Joe and Clayton consider selfishness and altruism in the context of Ayn Rand's work. They bring in Oscar Wilde's 1891 essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" - which almost sounds like an essay Rand would write - as an alternative understanding of the same dynamics of altruism and self-determination that Rand uses to support laissez-faire capitalism and the rule of property. Wilde and Rand seem to agree in their disdain for "living for others" and "an unhealthy and exaggerated altruism," but for Wilde overcoming that "sorid necessity" would be the "chief advantage that would result from the establishment of Socialism." While Rand contends that private property is essential to individual freedom, Wilde argues (decades before Rand) that "with the abolition of private property ... we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism."
- KBOO