Scrutinizing Scruton's Scrutinizing

Roger Scruton challenges Ayn Rand’s concept of selfishness—by committing the very fallacy Rand identified as the cause of confusion on this issue.

In an article titled “Altruism and Selfishness,” Roger Scruton challenges Ayn Rand’s concept of selfishness—by committing the very fallacy that Rand identified as the cause of all the confusion on this issue. (Scruton’s article has many problems; I’ll address only the most egregious of them.)

Scruton attributes to Rand the notion that being selfish consi…