Since knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the
individual, since the choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on
the individual, man’s survival requires that those who think be free of the
interference of those who don’t. Since men are neither omniscient nor
infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue
their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment.
Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind.
A rational mind does not work under compulsion; it does not subordinate its
grasp of reality to anyone’s orders, directives, or controls; it does not
sacrifice its knowledge, its view of the truth, to anyone’s opinions, threats,
wishes, plans, or “welfare.” Such a mind may be hampered by others, it may be
silenced, proscribed, imprisoned, or destroyed; it cannot be forced; a gun is
not an argument. (An example and symbol of this attitude is Galileo.)
It is from the work and the inviolate integrity of such minds—from the
intransigent innovators—that all of mankind’s knowledge and achievements have
come. (See The Fountainhead.) It is to such minds that mankind
owes its survival. (See Atlas Shrugged.)