What if I told you that morality isn’t a matter of whim, emotion, or divine order, but actually a consequence of the objective requirements for human life? 

Ayn Rand proved this in her Objectivist ethics; she proved that life is the standard of value.

Before diving into why life is the standard of value, we need to know:

• What morality is;
• Why we need a standard.

Morality, defined by Rand, is a code of values and principles that guide our choices. We only need morality because we have free will and can therefore make free choices. Morality doesn’t apply to animals because they act on instinct; they don’t make free decisions.

The locus of free will is the ability to focus your mind. Free will is not the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want, or to control the exact contents of our mind. It is simply the ability to think. Humans cannot survive without exerting free will, as we mostly don’t act on instinct. Because of this, we need some overarching guidance on what decisions are “good” and “bad.” Hence the need for morality.

Knowing why we need morality, we can ask: what criteria should we base morality on? (or what is the standard of value?) To answer that question, we need to know what values are and why we need them. Rand defines a value as anything you act to gain or keep. For example, if you work, money is a value you act to gain. If you spend that money on food, that food is a value you act to gain.

The need for values arises from the nature of life. Notice that only living organisms can pursue values. A rock, for instance, cannot act and therefore cannot pursue values. Also notice that the only reason living organisms need to pursue values is to stay alive. If you decided not to pursue values (meaning do nothing), you would die within days. 

Put succinctly, only living organisms can pursue values, and the only reason organisms need to pursue values is to live. And since the only reason we need values is to live, we can assert that the values that sustain and further your life are good, and the values that hinder or destroy your life are bad.

In other words, your life is the standard of all values.

Observe that all values (except your life) are a means to an end. For example, waking up early is a means to making time to work out, which is means to maintain or improve your health, which is a means to maintain or improve the quality of your life. Use this reasoning with any rational value, and you’ll find that all means lead toward an ultimate end, your life.

Pursuing a value is a choice, and deciding to live is the fundamental choice that all other decisions depend on. Ayn Rand puts it well here:

There is only one fundamental alternative in the universe: existence or non-existence––and it pertains to a single class of entities: to living organisms. The existence of inanimate matter is unconditional, the existence of life is not: it depends on a specific course of action. Matter is indestructible, it changes its forms, but it cannot cease to exist. It is only the living organism that faces a constant alternative: the issue of life or death. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action. If an organism fails in that action, it dies; its chemical elements remain, but its life goes out of existence. It is only the concept of ‘Life’ that makes the concept of value possible. It is only to a living entity that things can be good or evil.

By choosing to live and stay alive, you morally owe it to yourself to pursue only life-enhancing values. If you were to choose life-destroying values, you might as well have chosen to die and not have pursued any values.

Ayn Rand provided us with an invaluable gift. She outlined an objective morality based on facts rather than faith, with your life as the standard. So go out and pursue life-promoting values; it’s the moral thing to do.