Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged contrasts a small group of people who love life and are willing to take considerable risks to affi rm their Dasein (e.g., John Galt) with the large majority who are...

Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged contrasts a small group of people who love life and are willing to take considerable risks to affi rm their Dasein (e.g., John Galt) with the large majority who are afraid to affi rm their being-in-the-world and merely go through the motions of living. Her characters are rather one-dimensional and unrealistic, but her argument is a cogent one. The man whose case history is discussed in the Appendix is afraid to affi rm his Dasein. And there have been times in my own life when I preferred to back down and not be noticed, rather than assert my beliefs and/or existence and risk physical or psychological destruction.