1. The sum of the parts cannot contain more than the parts themselves. For instance, wouldn’t you agree that if I gather together two cubes, each precisely one cubic foot, all I end up with is two cubic feet and not three? I assume you do.

2. I, a human being, contain in me something that the universe does not contain: a sense of self. The moon, stars, tides and mountains might be more powerful than me, but I at least know that I exist. They don’t. I know this about myself as an absolute fact.

3. Without a consciousness there can be no freedom of choice. To freely choose, I must have an awareness of myself, and an awareness of my choices.

4. If there is absolutely no freedom of choice, there can be no consciousness. In other words, if I cannot choose how to react to any given situation, whether in action, or at least speech, thought and attitude—I can be said to have no self-awareness. I am simply unaware of my surroundings. My life consists of nothing more than an unending series of reactions to the natural forces that exist all about me and inside me: when it rains, I seek shelter, when I’m hungry, I seek food. I don’t think. I merely react.

The fact is I, and I alone, choose my thoughts, attitudes—and most importantly, reactions—to all situations. I know this for a fact. Although I will be the first one to admit that previous experiences and factors sway them, nonetheless, I have the final say on the matter. In other words: I feel myself as a conscious entity. This consciousness could not have come about from my history, or as a result of natural phenomena.

Let’s refer back to Given Nos. 1 and 2: Just as one plus one cannot possibly equal more than two, neither can two non-conscious entities produce a conscious entity. Thus, how can the universe, a sum of non-conscious entities, produce a conscious entity, Man? Now let’s look at Given Nos. 3 and 4. It follows then, that if my consciousness did not emerge out of the dumb elements of the universe, then neither did my freedom of choice, being that one cannot differentiate between the two.

So, would you like to know how I know that I have free choice? Because I know for a fact that I have free choice! Yes, that is it. There is no way you can convince me otherwise.

Essentially, then, man does have free choice: he has freedom to choose. The very fact that he is capable of pro-acting instead of reacting makes this an intellectual and logical imperative.