Ethics of Emergencies

As I read Ayn Rand's Ethics of Emergencies,  some ideas came into my mind.
It was first stated in the article that Altruism is the devotion to the interest of others. It is a philosophy or idea wherein a person thinks of others' welfare. It is the opposite of egoism, which is thinking sbout something for yourself first before helping others.
As I first read the article, I thought that Rand is an Altruism supporter. But as I do some researches, she is definitely NOT. Because she is an Egoism supporter. She just sited some Altruistic ideas.

“Sacrifice” is the surrender of a greater value for the sake of a lesser one or of a nonvalue.
Rand define the word sacrifice in terms of the words "greater value and lesser value". There, she sited one common example. It is about a husband who spent lots of her money just to cure his wife's illness. In that situation, the lesser value is the money while the greater value is the wife's life because it is his own happiness. The action is not a sacrifice because he chose the thing that has a greater value but IF he spent his fortune with other women, that is a sacrifice because he gives up his own happiness.


The main idea or thought of the article lies on the last two pages.
Emergency was then defined in that part as any situation like floods or any disaster. Rand stated that one should help a person in an emergency situation not because it is his duty bur because he like to help. But right after that particular situation, the person who helped will not be responsible for the things needed of the person he helped to survive. Rand then stated that helping  is an immoral act because it is an act of tolerating one's parasitic attitude.




To end this reflection, I agree with what our Philosophy instructor stated about this article that "A is A". "Reality is REALITY" and noone can change nor destroy it. And helping for me, is an act of lending a hand for someone. It must be controlled, in order for us to destroy the 'parasitic attitde' of a person.



Roselyn Ann Grace M. Ibanez
BSBA MM I-1