For an Objectivist, our life is of the highest importance (selfishness is a virtue for us remember). That's not to say we wouldn't freely give it for something we believe in, just that it would be our choice and not out of some sense of duty.
"For an Objectivist, our life is of the highest importance (selfishness is a virtue for us remember). That's not to say we wouldn't freely give it for something we believe in, just that it would be our choice and not out of some sense of duty."
...which all makes you perfectly undependable, which is all the point I was trying to make.
The point is that the particular human life and mind are infinitely changeable and mutable and thus no basis even in logic, much less law or morals, for any kind of oath anyone should rely upon.
You may be a nice person at the moment, but given the position you take on this, I would never turn my back on you.
When I engage in the defense of my country (or my sons do) out of a "sense of duty", that is a choice. I don't understand how you could possibly claim it to be anything else. And, selfishness is not a virtue. It is a narcissistic act of self-preservation which usually has resulted in anything but. Just ask those who "selfishly" served their selves during the Revolutionary War by fighting on the side of England, and who then suffered the consequences of their acts of selfishness.