Are Egoism and Natural Rights Theory Irreconcilable?
The main casualty of accusing an honorable opponent of being not only wrong, but also a fool is the unrealized fruits of the debates that will never occur thereafter. If an issue is hotly debated over a stretch of time with both sides attracting good and vigorous minds, it is unlikely that the participants have absolutely nothing to learn from each other. The egoists and natural rights advocates in Liberty agreed on more than they realized or, at least, on more than they were willing to admit. They agreed, for instance, on a key theoretical point: namely, human beings act in their own self interest. (Oddly enough the Stirnerite egoists never considered this constant statement of fact to be a ‘fixed idea’.) Even John F. Kelly acknowledged the primacy of self interest when he wrote, “If we regard…all forces pushing us to action as pleasures,–relief from pain being classed as a pleasure,–and all those tending to make us abstain as pains,–deprivation of pleasure being counted a pain,-
