I like the length because your vision is very wide and it just takes time to expose the detail.
Regarding the “Great Man,” I think there are such, and one characteristic of individuals I admire is the capacity for risk and sacrifice and the dimension of aspiration and inspiration that gets activated in the human “heart” ( not the meat …
I like the length because your vision is very wide and it just takes time to expose the detail.
Regarding the “Great Man,” I think there are such, and one characteristic of individuals I admire is the capacity for risk and sacrifice and the dimension of aspiration and inspiration that gets activated in the human “heart” ( not the meat heart) by the sight of great deeds.
The incident of the team of men that dove into the flooding caves in Thailand and found and rescued that group of young boys a couple of years back was the most extraordinary demonstration of the best that human brains and balls are capable of that I have had the priveledge to see. Studying that event in detail gives a lot of clues about great men and the groups they organize.
Honestly, anyone who doesn't credit the Great Man theory needs to read a biography of Alexander or Caesar. I read about the former when I was a kid and it made a deeper impression on me than a thousand volumes of social theory possibly could.
Mark Twain would argue with you, one of his characters went to Heaven and met the greatest military genius ever, and it turned out to be a Quaker who was born to early for one war and too late for the other, and never had to be military
I question if Alexander or Caesar could have risen to such heights without being part of the highest strata of society, in a society devoted to war. Napoleon and Grant of course rose to the top from plebeian birth in something of a vacuum of talent, and that might break my claim that you need the man, the position in society and the society that can use them.
The opposite is true, of course, quite a number of incompetent aristos have brought about disaster to their commands, their armies and to their countries
Context matters, naturally. Talent avails little without opportunity, and Alexander and Caesar were born at the right time to make use of both. At the same time, to read their biographies and pretend that they did not leave a massive stamp on human history purely through the exercise of their wills is obtuse.
I like the length because your vision is very wide and it just takes time to expose the detail.
Regarding the “Great Man,” I think there are such, and one characteristic of individuals I admire is the capacity for risk and sacrifice and the dimension of aspiration and inspiration that gets activated in the human “heart” ( not the meat heart) by the sight of great deeds.
The incident of the team of men that dove into the flooding caves in Thailand and found and rescued that group of young boys a couple of years back was the most extraordinary demonstration of the best that human brains and balls are capable of that I have had the priveledge to see. Studying that event in detail gives a lot of clues about great men and the groups they organize.
Honestly, anyone who doesn't credit the Great Man theory needs to read a biography of Alexander or Caesar. I read about the former when I was a kid and it made a deeper impression on me than a thousand volumes of social theory possibly could.
Mark Twain would argue with you, one of his characters went to Heaven and met the greatest military genius ever, and it turned out to be a Quaker who was born to early for one war and too late for the other, and never had to be military
I question if Alexander or Caesar could have risen to such heights without being part of the highest strata of society, in a society devoted to war. Napoleon and Grant of course rose to the top from plebeian birth in something of a vacuum of talent, and that might break my claim that you need the man, the position in society and the society that can use them.
The opposite is true, of course, quite a number of incompetent aristos have brought about disaster to their commands, their armies and to their countries
Context matters, naturally. Talent avails little without opportunity, and Alexander and Caesar were born at the right time to make use of both. At the same time, to read their biographies and pretend that they did not leave a massive stamp on human history purely through the exercise of their wills is obtuse.
Thank you, yes. I was focused on origin and cause, not effect.
Effect is very important, I forget that sometimes