Changing Perspective to Adopt High Agency
• 1 min
I was reading my highlights from the fantastic book, Courage to be Disliked, and was struck with the concept of Teleology. And I think this concept can contribute quite dramatically to being a high-agency individual.
Teleology is the study of ends, goals, or purposes (from the Greek telos, “end” or “goal”). To put it more clearly - instead of focusing on the past, Teleology looks at the function the behavior or symptom serves in the present.
When we or one of our loved ones are struggling with anxiety, or depression most of us tend to think in terms of etiology - “I wonder what caused this”. Instead a teleological view would ask: “What purpose does this anxiety/depression serve?” The answer might be that we’re using anxiety as a means to achieving a goal.
This made me think of my previous post on Winston Churchill, who I think is the epitome of high-agency. When he was held in a safe but boring prison during the Boer War, he was miserable. The etiological view would say - “Of course he was miserable, the war was happening without him.” But the teleological view is more powerful. Churchill’s misery served a purpose - it was the fuel for his relentless focus on escaping. His “problem” was a tool his ambition used to get him back in the action. He didn’t see himself as a victim of his prison; he saw his unhappiness as a compass pointing toward his goal.
The Teleological view drives action. Our default view - the etiological POV just makes us regret and ponder on the past.