Why did Ayn Rand emphasize reason so strongly?
Reason is man's basic tool of survival and his only means of knowledge. It is the faculty that identifies and integrates the facts of reality. I reject any reliance on faith, emotion, or revelation as a means of cognition. To live and thrive, man must think. He must be able to perceive reality, to understand its laws, and to act accordingly. Without reason, man is reduced to a creature of instinct, unable to achieve his full potential.