Here is my intro to my ethics paper on selfishness so far:

“A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."
-Oscar Wilde


The definition of Selfishness has become like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder. Between the views of the egotist and the views of the altruist, selfishness in both respects is black and white. It is either good or bad, virtue or vice, respectively and there is no grey area present in either view. However, these two views are not the only that exist, there are also many who believe that selflessness or selfishness is determined by morality and society’s code of ethics and the last major group claims that in order to live a full and balance life, a person needs to have a little bit of both, selfishness and selflessness. To elaborate further, using the quote by Oscar Wilde as an example, selfishness is a virtue when applying it to personal desires and values. However when one tries to apply their personal desires upon someone else, selfishness becomes a vice.