Vocabulary in Atlas Shrugged

A foundational logical principle holding that two contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time; used here as a moral and philosophical standard against evasion and self-deception.

A new metal alloy invented by the protagonist industrialist, stronger and lighter than steel, which becomes a symbol of productive achievement and is met with hostility by the government and competitors.

In this novel's moral vocabulary, people who live by taking the wealth and effort of productive individuals through force, regulation, or guilt rather than by their own work.

People who claim unearned support from others by appealing to need or pity, contributing nothing of value themselves; a moral category distinct from outright looters.

Political influence or personal connections used to obtain favors, contracts, or advantages from government officials, replacing merit as the basis for success.

A vast inherited copper-mining empire whose deliberate destruction by its owner becomes a central act of the novel's plot, symbolizing the withdrawal of talent from a corrupt world.

The idea that those who are exploited give their exploiters moral legitimacy by continuing to cooperate, feel guilty, or accept the exploiters' terms; a key philosophical concept in the novel.

An officially imposed suspension or halt; here used to mean a government-enforced freeze on the use of independent judgment and ability, treating intelligence itself as something to be suppressed.

A government order carrying the force of law, issued by bureaucratic authorities rather than elected legislators, used in the novel to control industry and redistribute property.

A ruling class whose power rests not on ability or birth but on political connections and the ability to extract favors from those in government authority.

Coercion that operates through guilt and moral pressure rather than explicit threats — forcing productive people to surrender values by making them feel obligated to those who produce nothing.

An idealized, perfect society; used ironically in the novel to contrast the collectivists' impossible promises with the hidden valley community built on rational self-interest.

The political and moral doctrine that the group, society, or state has priority over the individual, and that individuals must sacrifice their interests for the common good.

The moral code demanding that one live for others and place their needs above one's own; treated in this novel as a destructive doctrine used to enslave productive people.

The philosophical system presented in the novel, holding that reality exists independently of consciousness, that reason is the only means of knowledge, and that rational self-interest is the proper moral standard.

Those who claim knowledge through faith, feeling, or revelation rather than reason; used in the novel as a broad term of condemnation for anyone who evades rational thought.

A deliberate inversion of the philosophical concept of the 'unmoved mover'; here it refers to the creative, productive individuals who drive civilization forward yet are treated as though they owe their effort to others.

Belonging to the ordinary, physical, or worldly realm as opposed to the sacred; used in the chapter title to contrast physical passion and earthly achievement with false spiritual idealism.

A label applied in the novel to the collectivist moral crusade against the profit motive and self-interest, which the novel argues is actually a war against human life and achievement.

A philosophical characterization of any doctrine — religious, collectivist, or self-sacrificial — that opposes the values necessary for human survival and flourishing.

Those who use others for their own gain without fair exchange; the novel ironically inverts the Marxist use of this term, arguing that it is the non-producers who exploit the productive.

A banking metaphor applied morally: the idea that a society or individual has consumed more than it has produced or earned, and that a reckoning — collapse or withdrawal of support — must follow.

Used in the novel as the name for the hidden valley community of strikers — a lost ideal civilization rediscovered — evoking the mythic sunken continent as a symbol of a world built on reason.

The productive individuals — industrialists, scientists, artists — who have withdrawn their talents from a society that exploits them, going on a philosophical 'strike' rather than a labor strike.

A logical and moral demand for a clear choice between two mutually exclusive alternatives, rejecting compromise or middle ground; used as the title of Part Two to signal an approaching crisis of values.