The Randian hero is a ubiquitous figure in the fiction of 20th-century novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, most famously in the figures of The Fountainheads Howard Roark and Atlas Shruggeds John Galt. Rand's self-declared purpose in writing fiction was to project an "ideal man"—a man who perseveres to achieve his values, and only his values. Philosophical foundation As a conception of the ideal man, the Randian hero has much in common with Aristotle's conception of agathos, in that both are morally heroic and heroically rational. The philosophers share a similar naturalist/objectivist meta-ethical perspective emphasizing character as the primary determinant of moral worth, and possess a fundamentally heroic attitude towards life. The Randian hero exemplifies ethical egoism, the normative ethical position that the rational self-interest of the individual ought to be the basis for moral action. The specific virtues of the Randian hero, like the Aristotelian ideal, are created from rationality, the primary virtue; rationality is the hero's basic tool of survival, to be exercised at all times. The primary value, the "highest moral purpose", is happiness (cf. eudaimonia). For an ideal man, according to this philosophy, happiness is achieved through the accomplishment of his goals, goals chosen because of his values, values he finds through logic. Rand frequently declared her motive and purpose in writing to be "the projection of an ideal man"; all of her protagonists are heroes. Characteristics The archetype of the Randian hero is the creative individualist. Though Rand rejected the notion that individuals have duty towards one another, her heroes are marked by an essential generosity, for the reason that they act out of compassion and empathy rather than guilt. Rand's fiction displays a self-consciously Promethean sense of life, declaring through her characters the heroic value of self-assertion in the face of the established order. Generally a Randian hero is characterized by radical individualism, moral resolution, intelligence/aptitude, self-control, emotional discipline, and (frequently, but not always) attractive physical characteristics in the eyes of other Randian heroes. Rand's heroes are tall, strong and upright; the females share slender figures, defiant stances and the impression of internal calmness, while the males are physically hard and supple, often with gray eyes. Jerome Tuccille described U.S. President Gerald Ford as physically exemplifying the Randian hero—"tall, blond, clear-eyed, ruggedly handsome and well-built". Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek situates the Randian hero in Rand's fiction in the "standard masculine narrative" of the conflict between