Man is an end
in himself, and not a slave to the ends of 'society'.
Man can gain immense values from living with other men in society -- namely knowledge and trade -- if it is a human society.
A human
society is one in which each man holds as an absolute: that every
man is an end in himself, and that other men are not his pawns, nor
is he theirs.
Or, in the words of John Galt,
| "I swear -- by my life and by my
love of it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man,
nor ask another man to live for mine." |
|
Such
is the credo of the rational egoist -- the independent mind -- who recognizes no authority higher than
his own
judgment of the truth. Such a moralist recognizes that man's life is
the standard of value -- that which supports man's life is the good,
and that which destroys his life is the evil.
Individualism is not opposed to man living in society. Individualism is opposed
to man living in society as a slave. |
|
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