a theory that she called rational egoism. She holds that it is both irrational and immoral to act against one's self-interest. Thus, her view is a conjunction of both rational egoism (in the standard sense) and ethical egoism, because according to Objectivist philosophy, egoism cannot be properly justified without an epistemology based on reason. Her book The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) explains the concept of rational egoism in depth. According to Rand, a rational man holds his own life as his highest value, rationality as his highest virtue, and his happiness as the final purpose of his life. Conversely, Rand was sharply critical of the ethical doctrine of altruism: Criticism Two objections to rational egoism are given by the English philosopher Derek Parfit, who discusses the theory at length in Reasons and Persons (1984). First, from the rational egoist point of view, it is rational to contribute to a pension scheme now, even though this is detrimental to one's present interests (which are to spend the money now). But it seems equally reasonable to maximize one's interests now, given that one's reasons are not only relative to him, but to him as he is now (and not his future self, who is argued to be a "different" person). Parfit also argues that since the connections between the present mental state and the mental state of one's future self may decrease, it is not plausible to claim that one should be indifferent between one's present and future self. See also Notes References and further reading Baier, Kurt (1990). "Egoism" in A Companion to Ethics. Peter Singer (ed.), Blackwell: Oxford. Brink, D. 1992, "Sidgwick and the Rationale for Rational Egoism," in Essays on Henry Sidgwick, ed. B. Schultz, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gauthier, David (1986). Morals by Agreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gert, Bernard (1998). Morality: Its Nature and Justification. Oxford University Press. Kagan, S., 1986, "The Present-Aim Theory of Rationality," Ethics 96: 746–59. McKenzie, Alexander J. (2003). "Evolutionary Game Theory". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). link Moseley, Alexander (2006). "Egoism". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. J. Fieser & B. Dowden (eds.). link Mueller, D. (1989). Public Choice II. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Parfit, D., 1984, Reasons and Persons, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Parfit, D., 1986, Reply to Kagan, Ethics, 96: 843–46, 868–69. Paul, E. & F. Miller & J. Paul (1997). Self-Interest. Cambridge University