Setting Goals for Life and Happiness

Abstract I begin with the egoistic premise that one’s highest moral purpose is the achievement of one’s own happiness. I am basing this on the philosophy of Ayn Rand (for an overview, see Gotthelf [2000]; for the validation, see Peikoff [1991]; Rand [1957, 1964]). In this chapter I will discuss some guidelines for achieving happiness, focusing primarily on psychological issues. I will assume a requisite political context of freedom. Totalitarian dictatorships and, to a considerable extent, “benevolent” dictatorships disallow the freedom to think and to act on the basis of one’s thinking, and thus prevent the individual from acting to achieve the values that make happiness possible.