How Will You Repay Your Debt To Humanity?

Bookmark and Share

What legacy will you leave to mankind? Your answer may very well depend on how one asks the question. Be warned. The particular framing of the query I just posed can lead you mistakenly astray.

What’s the difference between the lead question and the question in the title?

Take a look at them both. How do the specific words used make you feel when you read them? What does “leaving a legacy” conjure up in your mind versus “repaying a debt”? And how does your picture of “mankind” contrast to what your mind sees when reading the term “humanity?”

It’s all about connotation, not denotation. Denotation means the raw dispassionate facts. Connotation favors the emotion. And, being a human, emotion rules. (Sorry to all you Continue Reading “How Will You Repay Your Debt To Humanity?”

‘How Do I Know I’m Truly Free?’ What’s Your Answer?

Bookmark and Share

The last glowing embers of July Fourth fireworks float gently down from soaring heights. Satisfied with your annual exhaustion of “oohs” and “aahs,” you lean back to relax comfortably in your chair. Friendly conversation renews and life goes on.

But do you ever wonder about what went into that independence you so enthusiastically celebrate? What are its vital elements? More importantly, how do you know those ingredients haven’t passed their expiration date?

It begins with freedom. Or does it begin with liberty?

Thomas Jefferson doesn’t even use the word “freedom” in his Declaration of Independence. He does refer to “Free and Independent States” twice and to “free people” once. Of course, the one time he uses the word “liberty,” Jefferson gives it top billing in his phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

This latter triumvirate of terms goes back to classic times (see “How to Live the Good Life with No Regrets,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, August 25, 2022). Aristotle said the Continue Reading “‘How Do I Know I’m Truly Free?’ What’s Your Answer?”

How Far Do Private Property Rights Go?

Bookmark and Share

Photo by J. Amill Santiago on UnsplashMany see Thomas Jefferson’s iconic “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” as having derived directly from Aristotle’s “Life, Liberty, and Eudaimonia.” For those of you not familiar with Greek, eudaimonia literally translates to the state or condition of “good spirit.” It represents the combination of the eu (meaning good) with daimon (meaning spirit).

Aristotle used the term in his Nicomachean Ethics, his tome devoted to the “science of happiness.” As a result, we commonly equate eudaimonia with happiness. Aristotle was all about living the good life, and by “good life” Aristotle alludes to a morality of higher Continue Reading “How Far Do Private Property Rights Go?”

The Art and Science of Influence and Leadership (Part II: The Art)

Bookmark and Share
Influence and leadership

Original Sun-Maid package, Designer unknown, incorporates painting by Fanny Scafford, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At some point, any effective exercise merges theory (the “science”) into practice (the “art”). Ironically, the following analysis of the art of influence and leadership predates the previously discussed science by roughly half a century or more.

That doesn’t mean this art didn’t follow science as you will immediately see.

The convergence of the art and science of influence and leadership can best be found in the field of advertising. Before Mad Men, before Madison Avenue, this field first blossoms in the not-so-quiet offices of the Chicago firm of Lord & Thomas.

You remember Lord & Thomas, don’t you? They were the “McMann and Tate” of the first quarter of the twentieth century. While it’s president Albert D. Lasker (a.k.a., “The Man Who Sold America” who The New York Times once called “The Continue Reading “The Art and Science of Influence and Leadership (Part II: The Art)”

The Seven Types of Power And The One Type You Should Avoid

Bookmark and Share

Power is the “Id” of the leadership triumvirate. It is raw. It is blunt. We often view it as the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B.

That’s the problem with power. It’s too easy. It’s so easy, it becomes a crutch. And you know what it means to use a crutch? It means you can’t stand on your own two feet. It means you have to rely on some artificial device to accomplish your goals.

Does that sound bad? Maybe yes. Maybe no.

That’s the mystery of power. When used correctly, it can help propel you and your team to great heights. When abused, it can lead to distrust, dissension, and mutiny.

The search for power goes back to man’s very beginnings. Military leaders saw it as the path to victory, riches, and glory. Philosophers saw it for what it truly was.

Power isn’t about pushing others off the battlefield. In fact, power isn’t about our Continue Reading “The Seven Types of Power And The One Type You Should Avoid”

How To Declare Independence And Start Pursuing Your Happiness

Bookmark and Share

Many folks think Thomas Jefferson “borrowed” the phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” from John Locke. The 17th Century British philosopher and physician famously wrote, in the unsigned Second Treatise Concerning Civil Government, that government exists to protect one’s life, liberty, and property. Sounds awfully similar to the words used by our Founding Father nearly ninety years later.

Significantly, Locke’s focus on personal “property” breaks from the sense of Thomas Hobbes. In his 1651 treatise Leviathan, Hobbes paints a sovereign-centric ideal. In this “social contract,” citizens cede personal freedoms to the ruler in exchange for protection. Without such protection, the contract is invalidated.

Bear in mind, Hobbes wrote this while in exile during the English Civil War between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists. He rejected Aristotle’s premise that man is driven by Continue Reading “How To Declare Independence And Start Pursuing Your Happiness”

How to Live the Good Life with No Regrets

Bookmark and Share

“Why is This Important to You?”

Socrates believed “the unexamined life is not worth living.” He may not have coined the phrase “know thyself,” but he’s famous for traipsing the streets of Athens examining lives by nagging prominent people until he proved they did not “know thineselfs.”

So effective was he the good city-state of democracy voted to put him to death. Socrates, despite his friends’ wishes, readily agreed to drink the hemlock and thus first came into usage the phrase “good career move.”

But before he died, Socrates perfected a method that would become his lasting legacy. Used today anywhere from the courtroom, to the classroom, to the psychologist’s couch, we call it the “Socratic Method” (which just shows you how terribly dull and unimaginative philosophers can be at times).

In a nutshell, here’s how it works. Come up with a question or hypothesis and keep asking annoying questions (often the same one or of the same form) until you’ve eliminated all Continue Reading “How to Live the Good Life with No Regrets”

Busting The ‘If We Ain’t Growing, We’re Dying’ Myth

Bookmark and Share

Jacob Peter Gowy, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsDaedalus carefully showed his son how to apply the wax to affix the feathers to his shoulders and arms. “These wings will work,” he said. “We will finally be free of this prison.”

Ironically, it was Daedalus himself who had created the Labyrinth, a vexing array of “intricate passageways and blind alleys” (at least according to Merriam-Webster). Anyone – or anything – imprisoned in this complicated maze found it nearly impossible to escape. Indeed, mythology claimed only Theseus was able to find his way out of Daedalus’ Labyrinth (primarily because Daedalus gave him a big hint).

Why did Daedalus build the Labyrinth? To imprison the Minotaur, a half-man/half-bull monster (whose origin story is not fit to print in a family newspaper). BTW, Theseus went into the Labyrinth to kill the Minotaur (something to do with the ancient Greek version of Continue Reading “Busting The ‘If We Ain’t Growing, We’re Dying’ Myth”

The Italian-American Triumvirate: #1 – God

Bookmark and Share

Each October we celebrate Italian-American Heritage Month. The month is obviously chosen in honor of the Italian that most influenced America: Christopher Columbus. Of course, Columbus’ discovery of the New World predated the creation of the United States by about three centuries, but our country long ago adopted his journey as an inspiration for the nation.

Columbus has since been joined by many Italian immigrants who would become Italian-Americans.

That’s an important distinction: “Italian-American.” It recognizes that you are, in fact, an Continue Reading “The Italian-American Triumvirate: #1 – God”

Criminal Hubris: It Gets Them Every TIME

Bookmark and Share

Search for the term “criminal hubris” and chances are you won’t find anything (except, hopefully, this woeful column). We know what a criminal is. We know what hubris is. But there is no definition of “criminal hubris.”

Yet there is, and it’s staring at us right in the face. Metaphorically, it’s all around us. Cinematographically, it resides on the screens we watch. Its roots, however, lie within the body of literature – both philosophical and dramatic – we ought to be most familiar with.

Whether as a metaphor for real-life, a character in a story, or an actual crime, “criminal hubris” is easy to spot (if you’ve got a trained eye), hard to avoid (if you’re arrogant), and, best of all, wonderful to watch (because it hoists offenders with their own petard quite regularly).

Before I reveal the “7 Steps of Criminal Hubris” let’s explore the origins of “hubris” and Continue Reading “Criminal Hubris: It Gets Them Every TIME

Skip to content