Because action is rooted in consciousness—more specifically, in values and purpose—it must stem from the same source, namely, the individual. Thus the ultimate acting unit in human action is the individual. Human beings can only act according to their values and purposes, as they see and formulate them through their individual minds.

It is not denied, of course, that individuals often participate in shared endeavors. If two or ten or 250 million persons all individually value a certain goal, then they may be able to act in cooperation to attain it. Each individual then plays a part in the common endeavor precisely because he or she values the overall goal as an individual. There is no necessity to postulate "social action," in the sense of a phenomenon independent of individual purposes, to explain such behavior.