[5] Originally an element of nihilist philosophy in Russia, it was later popularised in English-speaking countries by Russian-American author Ayn Rand.
However, their terminology was largely obfuscated to avoid government censorship and the name rational egoism explicitly is unmentioned in the writings of both philosophers.
[4][6] Rational egoism was further embodied in Chernyshevsky's 1863 novel What Is to Be Done?,[7] and was criticised in response by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his 1864 work Notes from Underground.
[4][8] English philosopher Henry Sidgwick discussed rational egoism in his book The Methods of Ethics, first published in 1872.
[9] A method of ethics is "any rational procedure by which we determine what individual human beings 'ought'—or what it is 'right' for them—to do, or seek to realize by voluntary action".
[11] Sidgwick found it difficult to find any persuasive reason for preferring rational egoism over utilitarianism.
[14]Two objections to rational egoism are given by the English philosopher Derek Parfit, who discusses the theory at length in Reasons and Persons (1984).