  (Ego translates as "I" from Greek) I have never asked myself that question before, the answer always seemed to be: duh... evil! Of course until... I read the Fountainhead, which I finally finished today and have successfully proclaimed to be my Bible:) Although it is as radical in its ideas as any philosophical book could possibly get, the philosophy is integrated in a great, crazy story of an architect: the greatest egotist alive, a man of highest level of integrity. And here is what he says at his trial before the collectivist/altruist world accusing him of being an egotist: "The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others.
His moral obligation is to do what he wishes. "From the beginning of history ,the two antagonists have stood face to face: the creator and the second-hander. The creator lives for his work. He needs no other men. His primary goal is within himself. The parasite lives second-hand.
He needs others. Others become his prime motive. "The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It demands total independence in function and in motive. To a creator, all relations with men are secondary.
Second-hander declares that man exists in order to serve others. He preaches altruism. Altruism is the doctrine which demands that man live for others and place others above self. No man can live for another. "Men have been taught dependence as a virtue. The man who attempts to live for others is a dependent.
He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves. The relationship produces nothing but mutual corruption. "Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Men have been taught that it is virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current.
But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone. Men have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue. But the creator is the egotists in the absolute sense, and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge, or act. These are functions of the self.
"The egotist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner. He does not function through them. He is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other man - and he asks no other man to exist for him.
This is the only form of brotherhood and mutual respect possible between men. "You can fake virtue for an audience. You can't fake it in you own eyes. Your ego is the strictest judge. It's easier to donate a few thousand to charity and think oneself noble than to base self-respect on personal standards of personal achievement. " "People are not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the second-hander's delusion - prestige.
They don't say "This is what I wanted because I wanted it, not because it made my neighbors gape at me. " The only cardinal evil on earth is that of placing your prime concern within other men. If one doesn't respect oneself one can have neither love nor respect for others. "The only thing that matters, my goal, my reward, my beginning, my end is the work itself. My work done my way. A private, personal, selfish, egotistical motivation.
" "I never think of myself in relation to anyone. I just refuse to measure myself as part of anything. " "I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. I am a man who does not exist for others.
The integrity of a man's creative work is of greater importance than any charitable endeavor. I recognize no obligations toward men except one: to respect their freedom and to take no part in a slave society. " "Is sacrifice a virtue? Can a man sacrifice his integrity? His honor? His freedom?
His ideal? His convictions? The honesty of his feelings? The independence of his thought? But these are a man's supreme possessions. Anything he gives up for them is not a sacrifice but an easy bargain.
Self-sacrificed? But it is precisely the self that cannot and must not be sacrificed. " 
