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the people adopted just enough of the majority stance to be seen as acceptable members of the town.
Todd Rose • Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions
In late 18th-century England, women had very few rights. Philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft was frustrated that this lack of rights limited a woman’s ability to be independent and make choices on how to live her life. Instead of arguing, however, for why women should get rights, she recognized that she had to demonstrate the value that these rights
... See moreRhiannon Beaubien • The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts
Today you will hear many presumably learned people say that there is
no such thing as human nature, or that human beings do not have a nature. Now, there is a long historical development back of this view, which we cannot deal with here, and it is not entirely without an important point. But that point is mismade in the statement that human beings
readwise.io • Willard | Renovation of Heart
In his book, On Liberty, published in 1859, John Stuart Mill was giving similar advice, arguing that societies need people to embrace their individuality and perform “experiments in living.” He argued that such experiments are vital to the pursuit of knowledge and that cultures only learn and evolve when original approaches to living are
... See morePaul Millerd • The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life
Whatever their conscious motives, these men cannot know why they are as they are. Nor can we account for why we are not like them.
Sam Harris • Free Will
But as the social sciences advanced in the twentieth century, their course was altered by two waves of moralism that turned nativism into a moral offense. The first was the horror among anthropologists and others at “social Darwinism”—the idea (raised but not endorsed by Darwin) that the richest and most successful nations, races, and individuals
... See moreJonathan Haidt • The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
Starting in the 1960s, the social and legal institutions of America were remade to try to eliminate unfair choices by people in positions of responsibility. The new legal structures reflected a deep distrust of human authority in even its more benign forms—a teacher’s authority in the classroom, or a manager’s judgments about who’s doing the job,
... See morePhilip K. Howard • Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society
John Stuart Mill held that government oppression is generally less burdensome than the tyranny of friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens.
Timur Kuran • Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification
