The Beneficiary Criterion

Let me quote from Ayn Rand, Pages viii and ix, from her book, The Virtue of Selfishness: "Observe what this beneficiary-criterion of morality does to a man's life. The first thing he learns is that morality is his enemy; he has nothing to gain from it, he can only lose; self-inflicted loss, self-inflicted pain and the gray, debilitating pall of an incomprehensible duty is all that he can expect." r My response: Ayn Rand dismisses the beneficiary-criterion (The worth of any moral act, no matter how defined, is worthy only if it is for the sake of another, or others.) as the gauge of moral worth, arguing instead that this criterion leads the agent away from morality, into complex behaviors that make him and his recipients unhappy and unfulfilled. Instead, she would define what ethical value is, and then urge that the agent go after that end, and only that effort is moral. Living to meet the beneficiary-criterion leads people into amoral, or immoral acts. I agree with her here.