Ethics Defined By Ayn Rand

On Page 13 of her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand defines morality: "What is morality or ethics? It is a code of values to guide man choices and actions--the choices and actions that determine the purpose and course of his life. Ethics, as a science, deals with discovering and defining such a code." My response: Humans are a smart species, which indicates that they exercise free will, and thereby are conscious deliberators selecting among right or wrong actions, to meet their wants and needs. Animals exercise little free will and not much rational power. Their instincts guide them as to how to act or not act. Humans mostly lack guiding instincts to control and direct our moral choices in action. To compensate, they require a moral code of basic dos and don'ts to renderit fairly clear and simple as how we are to act and proceed in the world. Armed with a socially derived ethical code, which each person personalizes to some degree, each person has a practical, clear, simple, strong code of behavior to aid him in making good rather than poor choices, to be done in an efficient, cool, calm mode of tranquility.