Some might falsely imagine that Ayn Rand, who entitled one of her books of essays The Virtue of Selfishness, chose the term "selfishness" for its shock value. While Rand was hardly inclined to shrink from controversy, her real intention was far more intellectually serious. In order to convey a cognitively essential concept, it was necessary to resurrect a term that had come to represent what she called "a devastating intellectual 'package-deal'" and to re-associate it with its proper meaning. The term "egoism" would not have sufficed, since it applies to a philosophical theory rather than to the human actions advocated by that theory. The term "well-functioning," introduced in this course, is much too broad, applying not only to human action but also to the functioning of other kinds of entities.

See The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism (New York: Penguin Books, 1961), vii (more information).