Humanism’s Twin Goals for Society: Freedom and Solidarity

Many leaders and also parents mistakenly believe that the only way to be demanding is to be a jerk. I had found myself trapped in this flawed thinking at times. What made a huge difference for me was understanding that there are actually two dimensions to leadership (parenting): the demanding and the caring dimension, as shown here in a graph from Angela Duckworth’s wonderful book Grit:

It has recently occurred to me that much of the debate about society is caught in a similar one-dimensionality trap. There appears to be a believe that all that matters is freedom versus oppression. And yes that is absolutely an important dimension. But it is not the only one. The other dimension that really matters to the functioning of a society is one of solidarity versus selfishness.

By pulling these two axes apart we get a two-by-two of societies. And yes of course this is a multi-dimensional problem with probably several other relevant axes but even just adding this second one significantly opens up the set of possibilities. I have taken a crack at filling in what the resulting quadrants may represent:

Much of my writing here on Continuations and also in my book The World After Capital, is about establishing a vision for what the top right quadrant might look like. I have started to take notes for a second book that will explore this further.

One obvious question is: where does solidarity come from, if it isn’t forced by the state? My answer is belief systems that are supported by philosophy, as well as by cultural and behavioral norms. We know that people are capable of feelings of altruism and solidarity, as well of course the opposites of egotism and selfishness. Which of these become dominant in an individual and in a society is thus a question of what stories are being told, who is celebrated,  etc. Historically a big role here was played by religion, but I believe it is entirely possible to bring out solidarity in a secular approach by embracing Humanism.

I am super interested in reactions to this two dimensional view of where we should be headed and how to get there.