4 ms·
It's obviously true that nobody achieves things in a vacuum, since we all have some level of "privilege" given to us by our economic circumstances, the level of
by roarcher 10mo ago
It's obviously true that nobody achieves things in a vacuum, since we all have some level of "privilege" given to us by our economic circumstances, the level of education available to us, our luckier heritable traits, etc. But for every successful person, there are countless others born to a similar level of privilege who squandered it. The claim that everyone owes their successes to the group ignores this.
- jagged-chisel 10mo ago> for every successful person, there are countless others born to a similar level of privilege who squandered it. Indeed. > The claim that everyone owes their successes to the group ignores this. This doesn't follow. Can you elaborate?
- roarcher 10mo agoBy "owe" I mean that the credit for their success belongs to the group and not the individual, because the individual was merely a product of good circumstances provided by the group. I believe this is the sentiment intended by the "no such thing as a self made man" crowd--no individual is special, and anyone else would achieve similar things under similar circumstances. This ignores the fact that many others DO enjoy similar circumstances but achieve nothing.
- danparsonson 10mo agoOwing your success to something is not the same as saying that having the something guarantees success. I owe my love of Korean food to my time spent living in South Korea; others may live there and come away hating it.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- jagged-chisel 10mo agoI see - some attribute of themselves has set them apart from the ones who had similar circumstances but squandered the opportunity. I guess it depends on how fine you track those circumstances. Did they all have that super-supportive friend named Trey that always knew then correct supportive thing to say? Personally, I can point to many times in my life where a teacher, grandparent, pastor made overt attempts to derail me. Maybe I wasn't completely derailed, but it slowed my progress and may have taken me along a less successful track for awhile. Looking back, I'm surprised I've done what I have. But I do wonder what kind of success I might have had if those naysayers had actually provided support.
- glimshe 10mo agoI agree, but many will say that the ones who didn't squander it were simply lucky.
- xboxnolifes 10mo agoOwing your success to the group does not imply that the success itself is a guarantee. Just that without the group, the odds are many many times worse.
- roarcher 10mo agoI would argue that the degree to which you owe something credit for your success is the degree to which it guarantees that success. If my society/group/family guarantees my success, no matter my actions, I owe it everything. If it makes no difference at all, I owe it nothing. If it merely improves my odds, then I owe it something, but there must have been at least one other factor at play, and that factor is also owed credit. I presume you would call that factor something like "luck". No doubt that that plays a role, but credit for luck belongs neither to the society nor the individual. All that is left, then, is individual choice, and so the rest of the credit belongs to the individual.
- amanaplanacanal 10mo agoAssuming free will actually exists, and that everything is not actually just cause and effect back to the big bang.
- roarcher 10mo agoFor the purposes of this thread we are obviously assuming free will exists. If it doesn't then achievements have no meaning and credit belongs to no one, making the whole conversation moot.
- Atlas667 10mo agoIf you were to truly do a science of people would you not take into account all of the circumstances that person was in, in order to understand them? You say: "One achieved it, but the other person in similar circumstances didn't achieve it" Well how do their circumstances differ? Don't you think it's important how they differ? Actually, couldn't how they differ be the key? Why, then, do you draw the line at an incomplete analysis? Maybe because it is convenient? Maybe because we'd rather not destroy our illusions of ourselves? Maybe its convenient not to understand others? What is real in regards to ones self and others? There shouldn't be a loss of pride with understanding.
- roarcher 10mo agoWhat level of analysis would you consider "complete"? Certainly if we accounted for every neuron in their brain we could reduce their achievements to whatever configuration of gray matter produced the thoughts and actions that led to their success, and whatever external events produced that configuration. But then we would be at a level of analysis that regards us all as automatons, where nobody, including the group, is accountable for anything at all. This may or may not be technically correct, but I would argue that it is not useful. The question of who gets "credit" for an achievement would be entirely moot, as would the achievement itself and everything else any human has ever done. I would think the correct level of analysis for this conversation is the lowest one that still allows people to be accountable for their own actions. Lower than that, and the central question of this thread is irrelevant.
- Atlas667 10mo ago> could reduce their achievements to whatever configuration of gray matter Even if we could do that it would not "reduce" any personal value. I think these are biases you may have. Accountability can be defined, even in that total view. And right now, even in the incomplete view that we have, it is defined socially and politically. And that's what my real take is: That the ideas that most people have of self, person-hood, achievement, merit and value, are political ideas.They are not necessarily true/accurate ideas. They serve a political purpose. > What level of analysis would you consider "complete"? We can go further than what we have now. In fact I think we MUST go further in order to make the world a better place. Our current analysis is really just a cheap political tool that serves to preserve a sort of caste-system, most employed for classism and racism. That vague notion that "some people are just different" is the base for many political violations. If anything the ideal, final form of what I am saying is this: Real Incorruptible Democracy. So we don't need a scientific model describing of a persons thoughts in real, chemical, atomic detail, we need a world that can take peoples individual circumstance into real political consideration and action. This could be what a real science of people is.
- missedthecue 10mo agoDisputing the notion of "self-made" is generally an attempt to deliberately misunderstand the point in order to derail the discussion, thus making discourse impossible. No one who uses the term "self-made" literally believes that Howard Schultz never hired any employees at Starbucks, they mean to say that for someone who was born in the projects, he did very well for himself. Pointing out he hired employees adds no value to the discussion, so it's not why people point it out.
- Telemakhos 10mo agoThe degree to which an individual is responsible for his own success, and the degree to which fortune enables it, is as old as time. In ancient Greek philosophy (and poetry), a person's life is divided into soul, body, and fortune: one exerts control over one's soul and body, but not over one's fortune, the sum total of things external to him, such as his family and friends and money. Virtues reside in the soul, and external blessings like wealth and the support of others outside the body, and the ancient Greeks were clear in this distinction, of which both halves are necessary but insufficient to achieve great benefits for one's people. Hence the idea that happiness is the exercise of vital powers along lines of virtue within a life affording them scope: the "lines of virtue" are internal elements of character, but "a life affording them scope" is the external support necessary. A virtuous hermit living in poverty alone on an island and a ruinously depraved criminal in the midst of civilization, the one virtuous but lacking fortune and the other fortunate but lacking virtue, are equally ill-suited to achieving great benefits for mankind.
- watwut 10mo agoI have seen quite a few Americans saying "nobody ever gave me anything" while they were literally from upper class and their parents/families gave them a lot. And actually most people who are born rich stay rich. Some do squander it, but it takes a lot more effort to squander stuff for them then for someone who starts poor. The "failing upwards" is an actual thing and who is around you massively influences whether you are failing upwards or downwards.
- roarcher 10mo agoI only argued that legitimate cases of individual achievement exist. The fact that trust fund babies also exist does not contradict that.