Now there is one word—a single word—which can blast the morality of altruism
out of existence and which it cannot withstand—the word: “Why?” Why must
man live for the sake of others? Why must he be a sacrificial animal? Why
is that the good? There is no earthly reason for it—and, ladies and
gentlemen, in the whole history of philosophy no earthly reason has ever been
given.
It is only mysticism that can permit moralists to get away with it. It was
mysticism, the unearthly, the supernatural, the irrational that has always been
called upon to justify it—or, to be exact, to escape the necessity of
justification. One does not justify the irrational, one just takes it on
faith. What most moralists—and few of their victims—realize is that reason
and altruism are incompatible.