The Virtue of Independence

Independence vs. Dependence: Navigating the Principles of Self-Sufficiency and Interpersonal Reliance

Compare & Contrast

Let's compare and contrast the virtue of independence by representing it with two people: Howard and Peter.

• Howard will represent independence, and Peter will represent dependence.

• These people do not exist; they are characterisations. 

• With Peter, I have attempted to portray the most common form of dependence rather than its extreme version because dependence exists on a spectrum, and it is more illustrative and helpful than portraying a beggar or criminal.

• With Howard, Independence is represented as an absolute because some dependence does not equal independence, and my intention is to define this concept clearly.

The Principle of Independence

The Principle of Independence is the primary orientation to reality, not to other men.

• Howard accepts reality as primary and deals with others as secondary.

• Peter accepts people as primary and deals with reality through an intermediary.

The Definition of Independence

"Independence is one's acceptance of the responsibility of forming one's own judgements and of living by the work of one's own mind."

• Howard 

  • Continuously pursues knowledge 

  • Takes time to think and judge his knowledge

  • Innovates at work

• Peter

  • Accepts knowledge from people he likes

  • Thinks if he has to or as a last resort

  • Works according to a process

Acceptance of Reality = Honesty & Rationality. 

• Howard

  • Recognises truth is non-contradictory

  • Deals with others honestly as a principle

  • Is consistent in his character

• Peter

  • Believes that “anything is possible”

  • Is pragmatic when dealing with people

  • Suites his character to the person or crowd (conformist)

Intellectual Independence

Intellectual Independence is the recognition that the mind is an attribute of the individual and no one can think for you. Dependant Reasoning is a contradiction.

• Howard

  • Independent in order to be objective

  • Takes responsibility

• Peter

  • Everyone’s subjective reality has equal value

  • Blames others

Example: Both Howard and Peter need a printer, and their girlfriends suggest one that previously worked for them. They trust that she has their best interests at heart and that she understands them and their values.

• Peter trusts his girlfriend's judgement and listens to her explain why it’s good, he looks at the printer and the price, and it seems okay, so he buys it. 

• Howard trusts his girlfriend’s judgement and listens to her explain why it’s good, he looks at the printer online, compares it to several other printers on the market, and concludes that the one his girlfriend suggested is the best available.

If the purchase goes well, both Peter and Howard will be satisfied

If the purchase goes poorly

• Peter blames his girlfriend and may not trust her judgement next time

• Howard tries to figure out what he missed in his investigation

Existential Independence: People to whom solitude means death

If a man lived on a desert island, a policy of dependence would be impossible to him. He would have to think, act, produce on his own or suffer the consequences. He would have to focus on reality or perish.

Claim: But we live in a society, so no one is independent because we all rely on others.

Answer: Individuals who trade their own creations are not dependents. 

The principle of independence is still at play when you pay for your groceries instead of begging, stealing or using money created by the thought and effort of others to acquire them.

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Quote: “The independent man who lives in society learns from others and may choose to work jointly with them, but the essence of his learning and his work is the process of thought, which he has to perform alone. He needs others with whom to trade, but the trade is merely an exchange of creations, and his primary concern is the act of creating; his concern is his own work. 

This kind of man gains many values from mankind and offers many values in return; but mankind is not his motivation, his sustainer, or his purpose.” - Leonard Peikoff

• Howard chooses his career based on what he would be happy to work on producing

  • Howard purchases his groceries with the products of his mind

• Peter chooses his career based on what his parents think would be good for him

  • Peter does not seem existentially dependent like a beggar, but since he relies on the thinking of others, he is still technically not a self-supporting entity

  • Peter purchases his groceries with the products of the minds of others

The effects of Independence

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is the experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and of being worthy of happiness.

• Howard knows that whatever happens, he will be able to support himself

  • He enjoys receiving approval only when he independently approves of the approvers

• Peter feels that if his community does not like him, they will not let him live

  • Others are the source of his pseudo self-esteem, he ‘needs’ approval and compliments

  • Success makes Peter feel that “I’m getting away with it.” and suffers from imposter syndrome, the dread of being found out

Volitional consciousness

Volitional consciousness is the act of focusing one’s consciousness on something

• Howard spends the majority of his day in-focus working on his values, resting as necessary

• Peter spends the majority of his day out-of-focus, resting his mind, working as necessary

Innovation 

Innovation is performing one's work with an active mind on the premise of understanding the job and finding even better ways to do it.

• Howard throws aside routine, questions tradition, challenges the conventional and tries to overcome the opposition

• Peter sees that the process he has memorised is being disturbed and opposes the change

Romantic Love

Romantic Love is a passionate spiritual-emotional-sexual attachment between a man and a woman that reflects a high regard for the value of each other's person

• Howard loves someone who reflects his deepest values by embodying them

  • His love makes him happy because it is for himself that he loves

• Peter is in a relationship with someone who loves him

  • His feelings towards her are confused because he does not feel the same way, but he cannot seem to leave her

Real-world examples

Choosing a Holiday Destination

• • Independent: Howard researches various destinations, considers personal interests and budget, and decides on a location that aligns with these factors.

  • Dependent: Peter simply goes along with a friend's suggestion without considering personal preferences or doing any research.

Selecting a University Course

• • Independent: Howard evaluates different courses, considers future career goals, and selects a course based on personal aspirations and interests.

  • Dependent: Peter enrolls in a course because family members or friends suggested it, without considering personal interests or career ambitions.

Investing in the Stock Market

• • Independent: Howard studies market trends, researches various stocks, and makes an informed decision based on personal financial goals.

  • Dependent: Peter invests in stocks recommended by a colleague or friend without personal research or understanding the investment.

Choosing a Diet or Fitness Regime

• • Independent: Howard researches different diets and workout plans, consults with a healthcare professional, and chooses a plan based on personal health needs and goals.

  • Dependent: Peter follows a popular diet or workout trend because it’s fashionable or because friends are doing it, without considering personal health needs.

Breakout questions

• Can you see yourself more in Howard or Peter?

• Can you recall a time when you behaved in an independent or dependent way?

  • What was the last relevant decision or purchase you made

• In what ways are you an independent or dependent thinker?

• Does your self-esteem rest on the opinions of other people?

• Do you agree with this bit? Do not blame others for your lack of thinking

  • Do you blame anyone for something?

• How can you overcome dependence on others?

• What would a relationship between two independent or dependent people look like?

• Is there someone you consider a role model for independence?

• When was the last time you tried to innovate in your workplace?

  • Did you overcome resistance or did the resistance overcome you?

Stories of Independence

The Principle of Motion - Aristotle

Aristotle correctly observed that one of the distinguishing characteristics of living organisms, as separate from non-living organisms, is, as he said, that in living organisms, the source or origin of their motion lies within themselves. If a plant grows, it's not because something outside pushed it. Its principle of motion lies within itself.

The Fearful Philosopher - by Nathaniel Branden

The first case is that of a professor of philosophy who is an atheist. He knows that the arguments for the existence of God are thoroughly indefensible. He regards the notion of a supernatural being as irrational and destructive. He despises mysticism and considers himself an advocate of reason. 

But he evades the issue of atheism vs. theism in his books and lectures, refuses to commit himself to the subject publicly, and attends church every Sunday with his parents and relatives. He does not tell himself that his motive is fear, that he is terrified to stand alone against his family, friends, and colleagues, that a violent argument of any kind makes him panicky, and that he desperately wants to feel accepted. No, this is not what he tells himself. 

Instead, he tells himself that if he were to acknowledge his atheism, his career would be ruined, evading the fact that many professors are known atheists, and their careers are unaffected by it. He tells himself that he is reluctant to cause pain to his elderly parents, who are devoutly religious, and who would be dismayed by his lack of faith, evading the fact that he is not obliged to convert his parents, merely to state his own convictions and that a man who takes ideas seriously does not sacrifice his own judgments which he knows to be rational, in order to placate people whose beliefs he knows to be irrational. 

His rationalisations serve to shield him from a full recognition of his treason. But because it cannot be blanked out entirely, he is condemned to struggle against secret feelings of self-contempt, and he retaliates by cursing the malevolence of “the system” and of reality since he cannot have his treason and his self-esteem, too.

The sell-out - by Nathaniel Branden

Consider the case of a successful playwright who selects some important theme as the subject of a play, a theme requiring and deserving a serious dramatic presentation, who then realises that his viewpoint will antagonise a great many people. 

He decides, therefore, to write the play as a comedy, making good-natured fun of the things he regards as evil, counting on his humour to prevent anyone from taking his view seriously and being offended or antagonised. He does not tell himself that he dreads being regarded as “unfashionable.” Instead, he tells himself that serious plays dealing with controversial ideas are non-commercial and dismisses the many exceptions as “freaks,” requiring no explanations. 

But he cannot entirely elude the knowledge that he has sold out the motive that prompted his desire to write the play in the first place. So, he retaliates against his discomfiting sense of moral uncleanliness by cursing the stupidity and bad taste of the masses.

Examples of existential dependents - by Leonard Peikoff

Moochers

Plead for unearned support from others.

Looters

Criminals and people who seize the unearned. Corrupt governments.

Mystic

Sell falsehoods that contribute nothing to the maintenance of human life or actively undermine it.

Drifters

Exercise no judgment, reach no conclusions, and imitate by rote the motions of those around them. The minds of others feed them, they are hitchhikers of virtue.

The Great Creators - by Leonard Peikoff

The role of independence in human life is writ large, for all to see, in the lives of the great creators. 

Not all independent men are great creators, but all great creators, by definition, are independent men, at least to the extent of their creativity. These are the men whose achievements—from logic, geometry, and science to anesthesia, concertos, power looms, and rockets—have lifted mankind out of raw nature and into a human mode of existence. 

Whoever takes a great step forward leaves a chasm behind. 

In the best of societies, he has to wait patiently, alone, for other men to catch up; and most societies to date have hardly been the best. Hence the fate suffered so often by geniuses, inventors, and innovators—not only hatred, ridicule, persecution, martyrdom but the necessity to spend one’s life and precious hours fighting against their root: against mental passivity, slothful ignorance, wilful deafness, enshrined falsehood. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered, and they paid. But they won. 

No further argument for the virtue of independence should be necessary, not if man’s life is the standard of value.

The Independence of Howard Roark - The Fountainhead

Nothing is given to man on earth. Everything he needs has to be produced. And here, man faces his basic alternative: he can survive in only one of two ways—by the independent work of his own mind or as a parasite fed by the minds of others.

The creator originates. The parasite borrows. The creator faces nature alone. The parasite faces nature through an intermediary. The creator’s concern is the conquest of nature. The parasite’s concern is the conquest of men. The creator lives for his work. He needs no other men. His primary goal is within himself. The parasite lives second-hand. He needs others. Others become his prime motive. 

The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind demands total independence in function and in motive. To a creator, all relations with men are secondary. The basic need of the second-hander is to secure his ties with men in order to be fed. He places relations first.