Rejoinder to Chris Cathcart, "Egoism and Rights" and Robert L. Campbell, "Altruism in Auguste Comte and Ayn Rand" (Spring 2006): Defending the Argument

Robert L. Campbell and Chris Cathcart offer several objections to Bass's essay, "Hgoism versus Rights." In response to Campbell, Bass argues that no adequate reason has been given for defining "altruism" in the way that Rand did, since that formulation does not accurately describe most altruists. In response to Cathcart, Bass argues that since Cathcart accepts the incompatibility of rights and consequentialism, the question of the compatibility of rights and egoism turns out to be the question of whether egoism can be non-consequentialist. Bass argues that it cannot. Thus, neither reply succeeds in overturning Bass's central arguments.