Eddie's character demonstrates the difference between intelligence and rationality. Intelligence is intellectual ability, whereas rationality is a method. Intelligence is a capacity for understanding, but rationality is a means of using one's mind. Robert Stadler, for example, has incomparably greater intelligence than Eddie, but Eddie is far more rational. Stadler has the genius to make significant advances in theoretical physics, but when dealing with men, he often evades or denies important facts. Stadler tries to convince himself that Galt is dead — "he has to be," he says — and that no connection exists between the prodigy he taught at Patrick Henry University and the man of whom the entire world speaks. Most important, Stadler tries to deny the truth of John Galt's words, though he knows that all of Galt's words are true. He repeatedly pushes aside the realization that, in aligning himself with the brutes, he has betrayed the mind. Unlike Stadler, Eddie refuses to push facts aside no matter how painful or frightening they are. He doesn't deny that the economy is collapsing; that, when the railroad goes, he'll go with it; or that Dagny, the woman he loves, is sleeping with Rearden. Eddie faces reality at all times. He merely possesses limited intellectual ability with which to do so.
Atlas Shrugged shows that intellect is necessary to promote man's prosperity on earth. The achievements of Rearden, Dagny, Galt, and the other thinkers dramatize the claim that reason is the primary cause of progress. But intellectual ability isn't within a man's volitional control. The ability of his brain is something that a man is born with, but he chooses whether he uses it. Eddie's consistent choice to accept the responsibility of thinking is the hallmark of a virtuous man. An individual can be judged only by what is subject to his control. On issues that are open to his choice, Eddie is a man of great stature.
