For the New Intellectual

1. Western Culture Faces Intellectual Bankruptcy

America is culturally bankrupt.

A crisis of ideas. Western culture, particularly in America, is facing a severe crisis rooted in the collapse of its intellectual leadership. Dominant philosophies teach the impotence of the mind, the unknowability of reality, and the inherent depravity of man. This intellectual vacuum leaves society vulnerable and directionless.

Symptoms of decline. This bankruptcy manifests in various fields: psychology claims man is a helpless automaton, literature portrays man as inherently flawed and life as meaningless, and politics advocates for sacrificing the productive to the unproductive. The result is an atmosphere of cynicism, guilt, despair, and evasion, where fundamental values are abandoned.

Need for intellectual renewal. The solution is not anti-intellectualism, but a recognition of the crucial power of ideas and the need for alert, independent minds. A culture cannot survive without a guiding philosophy, and America currently lacks one, having been abandoned by those whose job it was to provide it.

2. History's Struggle: Force, Mysticism, and the Producer

These two figures—the man of faith and the man of force—are philosophical archetypes, psychological symbols and historical reality.

Attila and the Witch Doctor. Throughout history, societies have largely been dominated by two archetypes: Attila, the man of brute force who rules by physical power and immediate whim, and the Witch Doctor, the man of faith who rules by claiming mystic knowledge and controlling men's consciousness through guilt and fear. Both dread reason and seek an effortless, irresponsible existence.

Their unholy alliance. Attila and the Witch Doctor form a symbiotic relationship: Attila provides physical protection and enforces the Witch Doctor's edicts, while the Witch Doctor provides moral sanction for Attila's actions and disarms his victims with doctrines of self-sacrifice. Their power relies on men abandoning reason and seeking guidance from external authority or internal feelings.

The forgotten man. Against these two stands the Producer—the man who thinks, works, and creates value by conquering nature through reason. Producers are the true source of human survival and progress, yet they have historically been exploited and ruled by Attila and the Witch Doctor, who cannot create but only take.

3. Reason is Man's Only Means of Survival

Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival.

Volitional consciousness. Unlike animals, man does not possess automatic knowledge or instincts for survival. His consciousness is volitional; he must choose to think, to integrate sensory data into concepts, and to guide his actions by reason. This process is not automatic, infallible, or effortless.

The penalty of default. Man cannot survive on the perceptual level alone. Evading the effort of thought leads to destruction. While animals adapt to their environment, man survives by adjusting his environment to himself, a feat possible only through the conceptual power of his mind, which allows him to understand and transform reality.

Thinking is a moral choice. The fundamental choice for man is to think or to evade. Reason is his only means of knowledge and his only guide to action. To abandon reason is to abandon his means of survival and his nature as a human being, leading to a state of living death.

4. The Intellectuals' Betrayal of Reason and Capitalism

The intellectual has sold him out, has betrayed their common source, has failed in his own job and has brought men to spiritual bankruptcy.

Defaulting on responsibility. The professional intellectual, a product of capitalism, was meant to be the purveyor of knowledge and philosophical guidance in a free society. However, they defaulted on this responsibility, failing to provide a rational moral code for the industrial age.

Embracing irrationality. Instead of upholding reason, intellectuals embraced philosophies that attacked the mind, such as Kantianism, Pragmatism, and Positivism, which denied objective reality, the validity of concepts, and the power of reason in morality. They sought new forms of servitude, aligning themselves with the Witch Doctor's disdain for the material world and the Producer's achievements.

Attacking the businessman. The intellectuals unjustly attacked the businessman, the producer of wealth, by applying the Witch Doctor's moral code of altruism. They equated production with plunder, freedom with compulsion, and profit with exploitation, refusing to recognize that industrial wealth was the product of man's mind and that capitalism was a system of voluntary trade, not force.

5. The Morality of Altruism is a Code of Death

Sacrifice—cry both—is the essence of morality, the highest virtue within man’s reach.

The core tenet. The dominant moral code, altruism, demands that man live for others and sacrifice himself for their sake. This doctrine, preached by both mystics of spirit and mystics of muscle, is presented as the highest virtue, yet it is fundamentally anti-life.

Sacrifice defined. Sacrifice is not the rejection of the worthless, but the surrender of the precious. It is giving up what you value for what you do not. A morality demanding sacrifice requires men to act against their own lives and values, leading to suffering, guilt, and the destruction of the good for the sake of the evil.

Moral cannibalism. Altruism creates a world of victims and parasites, where need is a claim and ability is a penalty. It teaches men to feel guilty for their virtues and to seek value in their flaws or the flaws of others. This code of moral cannibalism ultimately leads to universal stagnation and destruction, as seen in collectivist societies.

6. The Psycho-Epistemology of the Second-Hander

They have no self. They live within others. They live second-hand.

Living through others. The second-hander is a person who lacks a self, whose sense of identity and value is derived from others. Their motivation is not internal desire or conviction, but the opinions, admiration, or envy of other people. They seek prestige, not achievement.

Absence of independent judgment. Second-handers are concerned only with people, not facts, ideas, or work. They ask "Is this what others think is true?" rather than "Is this true?". They repeat, give impressions, seek friendship over ability, and pull over merit. This reliance on others means they suspend their own consciousness and judgment.

The root of evil. This absence of a self is presented as the root of despicable actions. The second-hander betrays his own ego and integrity by living for others, yet is paradoxically called "selfish" by the altruist code. Their fear of independence makes them resent and attack those who stand alone and live by their own judgment.

7. The Attack on the Mind: Philosophy's Retreat

The man who formalized this state, and closed the door of philosophy to reason, was Immanuel Kant.

Abandoning reality. Post-Renaissance philosophy, starting with Descartes' "prior certainty of consciousness," retreated from reality. Philosophers became divided, either abandoning reality for concepts derived internally (Rationalists) or abandoning concepts for immediate perception (Empiricists). Reason was pushed aside.

Kant's destructive legacy. Immanuel Kant solidified this retreat by splitting reality into a knowable "phenomenal" world (perceived by man, but not "real") and an unknowable "noumenal" world ("real" reality). He claimed man's mind distorts reality and that reason is limited, reserving morality for a mystic "categorical imperative." His philosophy provided a base for later attacks on the mind.

Modern manifestations. Kant's influence led to schools like Pragmatism and Logical Positivism, which denied objective reality, certainty, and the capacity of reason to deal with values. They reduced knowledge to subjective feelings, social convention, or arbitrary constructs, paving the way for the current intellectual chaos and the denial of the concept of "mind" itself.

8. Capitalism: The System of Rational Self-Interest

Capitalism demands the best of every man—his rationality—and rewards him accordingly.

A system of trade. Capitalism is the only social system based on reason and voluntary trade, where men deal with one another by giving value for value. It is the system of the Producer, rewarding ability, achievement, and productivity based on objective value and rational judgment.

The moral meaning of money. Money is the tool of exchange in a capitalist system, representing the principle that men must deal by trade. It is made possible by producers and gives value for value. Money demands honesty, ability, and mutual benefit, serving as a barometer of a society's virtue.

Freedom and progress. Capitalism, based on individual rights, political freedom, and economic freedom, unleashed unprecedented human energy and progress. It replaced force and mysticism with production and knowledge, raising the standard of living and thought for all who participate in productive activity.

9. The Axioms of Objectivism: Existence and Identity

existence exists.

The base of knowledge. The philosophy of Objectivism begins with the axiom that existence exists. This implies two corollary axioms: that something exists which one perceives, and that one exists possessing consciousness to perceive it. These are irreducible primaries necessary for any knowledge or action.

A is A. The law of identity, A is A, means a thing is itself and cannot be otherwise. Existence is Identity, and Consciousness is Identification. This axiom is the base of logic, which is the art of non-contradictory identification. To deny A is A is to abandon reason and reality.

Causality and the unearned. The law of causality, A is A applied to action, states that actions are caused by entities according to their nature. Nothing is uncaused or unearned. The mystics' desire for the uncaused in matter (miracles) and the unearned in spirit (unconditional love, unearned wealth) is a rebellion against identity and causality, a wish for non-existence.

10. Rejecting Unreason: Neither Emotion Nor Force

emotions are not tools of cognition; b. that no man has the right to initiate the use of physical force against others.

Emotion vs. Reason. Emotions are not tools for understanding reality; they are consequences of one's values and premises. While inherent, their content is dictated by the mind. Relying on emotions without rational identification leads to a distorted view of reality and self-destruction.

Force vs. Reason. Initiating physical force against another man is the ultimate act of unreason. It negates his mind and his means of survival. Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins. Rational men deal by persuasion and voluntary consent, not compulsion.

The basic minimum. For men of intellectual integrity to cooperate and build a rational society, they must agree on two basic principles: that emotions are not tools of cognition, and that no man has the right to initiate the use of physical force. These principles reject the psycho-epistemology of the Witch Doctor and Attila.

11. The Call for the New Intellectuals

Who are to be the New Intellectuals? Any man or woman who is willing to think.

Filling the vacuum. The current cultural bankruptcy creates a desperate need for a new intellectual class. These will be individuals willing to think, guided by reason, who value their own lives and refuse to surrender to despair or the rule of force and mysticism.

Integrated men. The New Intellectual will reject the soul-body dichotomy and its false conflicts. They will be integrated thinkers and men of action, recognizing that ideas must guide action and that action without ideas is suicidal. They will understand that reason is the basic necessity for man's survival and his greatest moral virtue.

A moral revolution. The task is to build a new culture on a moral foundation of rational self-interest, sanctioning and completing the political achievement of the American Revolution. This requires identifying and upholding the moral premises implicit in capitalism and fighting for it as a moral issue, not just a practical or economic one.

Last updated: May 4, 2025