The Virtue of Selfishness Test 01

1) The meaning ascribed (in popular usage) to the word “selfishness” is merely wrong. [p.vii]

2) There are two moral questions which the ethics of altruism lumps together into one “package-deal”: [p.viii]

3) One’s own independent judgment is a proper moral criterion and moral validation. [p.xi]

4) It is only the concept of ‘Life’ that makes the concept of ‘Value’ possible. [p.16]

5) The fact that a living entity is, does not determine what it ought to do. [p.18]

6) Humans first become aware of the issue of “good or evil” in its simplest form by means of: [p.18]

7) Higher level organisms, such as animals and man, can achieve their survival by means of their automatic physical functions. [p.19]

8) Fill in the blank: A ________ is produced by the automatic reaction of a sense organ to a stimulus from the outside world; it lasts for the duration of the immediate moment, as long as the stimulus lasts and no longer. [p.19]

9) Fill in the blank: A ________ is a group of sensations automatically retained and integrated by the brain of a living organism, which gives it the ability to be aware, not of single stimuli, but of entities, of things. [p.20]

10) Fill in the blank: A ________ is a mental integration of two or more perceptual concretes, which are isolated by a process of abstraction and united by means of a specific definition. [p.21]

11) The process of abstraction and of concept-formation is automatic. [p.21]

12) Consciousness – for those living organisms which possess it – is the basic means of survival. [p.22]

13) The two essentials of the method of survival proper to a rational being are: [p.25]

14) Since the Objectivist ethics holds man’s life as the standard of value, this implies that survival is a primary value, which can be achieved morally at any price. [p.26]

15) The three cardinal values of the Objectivist ethics are: [p.27]

16) Fill in the blank: _________ is the central purpose of a rational man’s life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values. [p.27]

17) The virtue of Rationality requires the rejection of any form of mysticism. [p.28-29]

18) The virtue of Pride can best be described by the term: [p.29]

19) The basic social principle of the Objectivist ethics is: [p.30]

20) Fill in the blank: Emotions are _____________. [p.31]

21) Since Objectivism maintains that happiness is the purpose of ethics, it advances ethical hedonism. [p.32-33]

22) To injure, enslave, rob or murder others is in man’s self-interest. [p.34]

23) Fill in the blank: The two great values to be gained from social existence are ____________ [p.35]

24) The basic political principle of the Objectivist ethics is: [p.36]

25) According to Ayn Rand, in contrast to Objectivism, the three major schools of ethical theory include: [p.37]