In Ayn Rand's (447) novel, Atlas Shrugged, steel magnate Hank Rearden says when he is on trial that "The public good be damned. I will have no part of it!" In this single statement, much of what constitutes Rand's philosophy of Objectivism is revealed. At its core, Objectivism û and the novel as a fictionalized polemic - holds that individuals are not "entitled" to social welfare, to preferential treatment, to pity, or to any special favors. Rather, each man is "entitled" to use his intellect, his capacity for work and creativity, and his ability to develop wealth to suit his own ends and meet his own needs without concern for the putative well-being of others. As Rearden (446) says, astonishing the judge and jurors and others in the courtroom, "I work for nothing but my own profit, I earn it."
The theme thus developed by Rand (940 û 941) is further explicated by the voice of John Galt (the primary protagonist of the novel, a mystery man whose determination to be free of collective guilt and superimposed obligations to those who are too weak or too unwilling to work for their own good or take responsibility for their own lives. Galt, speaking no a radio broadcast, tells his audience that no one has any obligation or debt to his fellow (940). It is this that Rearden is stating when he appears in court to answer charges that in essence accuse him of not being an altruist. Rand's thesis is that altruism is almost always wrong not only because it takes away profit from the person who has legitimately earned it, but because it does nothing to motivate its beneficiaries to take charge of their own lives and fate. Men and women, in this philosophical orientation, have only the obligation to live their own lives as productivity as possible; they have the corollary obligation, as articulated by Galt, to never initiate the use of force against another person (940). Certainly men have the right and even the obligation to defend thems...