Attention Economy


Thursday, February 4, 2021

Philosophy of Individuality

Individuality Is an Illusion
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/02/dalai-lama-gentle-transgressive-individuality-happiness/617901/
ARTHUR C. BROOKS, a professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School, notes:
Many Western philosophers, from Thomas Hobbes to Friedrich Nietzsche to Herbert Spencer, reject the idea that looking after one another with compassion is part of our nature. On the contrary, these thinkers and their traditions argue that people are naturally self-interested and untrustworthy. As such, coercion—or, at best, cold negotiation—is the only way we can attain our ends. This outlook might sound harsh, but it guides more of day-to-day modern life than you might expect. Consider the more than $100 billion we spend each year on policing in the United States, and the $429 billion each year on tort litigation. Or simply consider how political leaders all around the world—including so many today on the American left and right—have embraced fear and hatred of people with different views as if it were perfectly normal”.