In the previous sections, I have argued for survival as the standard of value; and have explained, in outline, how the values and virtues which Objectivism advocates are derived from this standard. I have contrasted this view with the "flourishing" view, which holds that these values and virtues, as aspects of the good life for man, need not be defended as helping survival.
Advocates of this view, such as Rasmussen, Den Uyl, and Long, refer to the Aristotelian distinction between instrumental and constitutive means. Their view is that virtues are not merely instrumental means towards survival, valued because of their consequences in promoting that end; they are constitutive means towards the good life, valued because they are themselves part of that end.
In this section, I will point out an important grain of truth in this view, and indicate where Rand's "survival" approach and the "flourishing" approach can find common ground.
Rand defined life as "a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action" [12]. Life is not some goal beyond the actions which sustain it; it consists of the collection of actions, which sustain the possibility of their own continued performance. For an organism to survive means nothing more or less then to continue taking the same actions.
This is obvious regarding the biological actions and faculties of animals. An animal breathes, has blood circulate through its body, is conscious of its sorroundings, moves to find food and run from predators, etc.; all these actions evolved because they contribute to the animal's survival. However, for the animal to survive means nothing more or less than for it to continue breathing, moving, being conscious, having blood circulation, etc..
Man is different from other animals in that many aspects of his identity, relating to his conscious values and actions, develop, not by evolution, but by his own choices. The same principle, however, seems to apply here also. The values and principles that a person has formed, the character traits he has developed, are part of his identity as a living organism; the actions he takes based on them are living actions, just as much as his lower-level biological actions; they are "self-sustaining, self-generated actions", aimed at man's continued ability to take these same actions --- i.e. at maintaining his own character, values and principles --- as well as his ability to take all of his other, lower-level living actions.
In a crucial sense, then, asking "what if you could survive better by being irrational, or living without purpose" is a senseless question; it is equivalent to asking "what if you could survive better by being unconscious, not breathing, not moving, and having no blood circulation". All of these aspects of a man's nature have developed (in the second question, by evolution; in the first question, by the man's own choice) because of their contribution to survival; but once developed, they themselves become part of survival, and the idea of surviving without them becomes senseless. "[Reason, purpose and self-esteem are] the three values which, together, are the means to and the realization of one's ultimate value, one's own life" [13].
On this point, a crucial distinction must be recognized --- analogous to the distinction made in philosophy of mind --- between the first-person and the third-person perspective. [14] From a first-person perspective, one's own character and values are not experienced as means towards the end of survival (except, perhaps, in some very unusual situations, e.g. when one is experiencing extreme sadness or despondence). A rational person, while acting on his principles, does not experience his action as motivated by the existential consequences of the principles (e.g., a rational person does not consciously consider whether to try to cheat people, deciding not to by an argument similar to Rand's argument about the fake gold shares). Rather, one's character, values and principles are experienced as part of oneself, and as ends in themselves. From the third-person perspective, however, we can prove --- as I have argued throughout this paper --- that the basis of all rational values is the goal of survival.
The same is true of vegetative actions as well. A person does not experience his own breathing as aimed at providing his cells with oxygen; he simply experiences it as an essential part of his life. Only from the third-person perspective, by studying man's body, we discover that breathing is, in fact, aimed at that end. The difference is that in the case of man's values and character, to the extent that they were chosen by him rather than adopted passively from his culture, he does need some awareness of their contribution to survival in order to develop them in the first place; this awareness, however, is not --- and, if these values are to fulfill their psychological role, can't be --- part of one's conscious first-person experience while making decisions.
I believe, therefore, that Rand's statement can be expanded as follows: man values reason, purpose and self-esteem --- as well as his more concrete values --- because they are the means to his life; and because he values them, they become, and are experienced as, the realization of his life.
On this point, then, the Objectivist and neo-Aristotelian views are in essential agreement. Where they differ --- and where Rand's unique contribution to the issue is --- is in the method by which we determine what values can be seen as part of, or the realization of, man's life. On Rand's view, since survival is the standard, we must justify all values by demonstrating their direct or indirect contribution to physical survival; only after this has been established, we become justified in regarding these values as themselves part of what survival means for a human being, making them as aspect of "flourishing", or --- to use the phrase that best expresses the concept, Rand's own phrase --- of "man's life qua man".