The will of "God"—again subject to violently conflicting interpretations, which can be witnessed (for example) in the histories of Ireland, Lebanon, and the former Yugoslavia.

Because no single objective interpretation of the altruistic code is possible, it must be defined by some dictatorial authority if it is to be practiced across a whole society. Moral authority is therefore vested in a tribal ruler, a priest, a monarch, a dictator, or bureaucratic "czars." If the spheres of influence of two such authorities overlap, then the "correct" authority may be determined through civil or religious warfare.

Egoism, of course, resolves the breach between morality and practicality by upholding the individual's life and well-being as the highest ethical ideal. Applying this ideal to reality through reason (the only tool by which we can accurately apprehend reality), the egoist simultaneously realizes the moral and the practical—which from this perspective are like two sides of the same coin.

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