Episode #020

Personal Responsibility vs Systemic Issues: Is It Your Fault Or Is Society To Blame?

Is the state of things today a failure of individuals to take personal responsibility? Or is it evidence of a total failure of the system?

If we want to be the most effective version of ourselves, make progress towards our goals and live a better life - is the individualist worldview a more effective way to get there? 

In this episode, Shane and Ollie discuss where best to sit on the spectrum of personal responsibility vs systemic issues if you want to live the best life possible.

In this episode...

Some of the points covered in today's conversation:

  • Why is it important to know the systemic causes for problems that appear on the individual level?
  • Why the spectrum of personal responsibility and systemic issues is politicized.
  • What are the merits of both approaches - and the flaws?
  • Why environment truly does matter regardless of personal responsibility.
  • The predictable outcomes of systemic issues.
  • Why an over emphasis on personal responsibility kills empathy for others - and yourself.

Links & Resources

Over to You

We hope you found this episode useful! What brought you the most value? Do you have questions or feedback? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

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Oliver Cowlishaw

About the author

Ollie is an avid pizza connoisseur, accomplished drinker of coffee and lover of soul music. Heavily influenced by Zen & eastern mysticism, his curiosity regarding the human experience is insatiable. Despite having a strong vocabulary, he swears a lot and uses slang phrases ("ollie-isms") that almost nobody understands, not even himself.

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  • Ernst-Janke Jansson says:

    Another great episode which brings different ideologies in a better perspective. Politics transforming in (hopefully) better life conditions only in decades is a valid remark. (Though 90 of politics does not care at all on anything but particular interests). If one is interested to get some more insight into this transformation process history has so much to teach. With regard to the amount of suffering the human zoo causes nowadays: A great deal of problems we are dealing is even much older then the french revolution.

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