Rational egoism

Rational egoism is the ethical view that rational agents ought to pursue their own long-term interests rather than sacrifice them for others.

Ethical egoism: The normative view that people ought to act in their own self-interest. Rational egoism is a version that grounds self-directed action in rationality and emphasizes long-term interests.
Ethical altruism: The normative view that people ought to act for the benefit of others, sometimes at personal cost. It reverses rational egoism's priority by making others' welfare the moral aim.
Ayn Rand: A novelist and philosopher who defended rational self-interest as a moral ideal. Her Objectivist ethics is the best-known modern formulation of rational egoism.
Objectivist ethics: Ayn Rand's ethical framework, which treats rational self-interest and individual rights as moral principles. It develops rational egoism into a systematic account of virtues, rights, and proper conduct.
Is–ought problem: The problem of whether normative conclusions can be derived from purely descriptive premises. It challenges arguments that move from facts about rational agency directly to duties of self-interest.
Prudence: Practical judgment about choosing actions that serve one's long-term well-being. It supplies the practical standard by which rational egoism evaluates choices.
Psychological egoism: The descriptive thesis that people are always ultimately motivated by their own interests. Unlike this claim about actual motivation, rational egoism prescribes what agents ought to pursue.
Henry Sidgwick: A British philosopher whose Methods of Ethics examined competing principles of practical reason. His analysis of rational egoism and universal benevolence shaped the debate over whether they can be reconciled.
Rational selfishness: The pursuit of one's own interests through reason rather than impulse or short-term gratification. It captures the practical ideal often associated with rational egoism, while distinguishing it from mere greed.
Practical reason: Reasoning about what to do, which ends to pursue, and how to act. The dispute turns on whether practical reason can establish self-interest as an obligation rather than a strategy.

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