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Full Idea
The enlightened goodwill of men acting in an individual capacity is the only possible principle of social progress.
Gist of Idea
Only individual people of good will can achieve social progress
Source
Simone Weil (Reflections on Liberty and Social Oppression [1934], p.57)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'Oppression and Liberty' [Routledge 1955], p.57
A Reaction
I identify with this. Virtually every admirable institution in a society can be traced back to the initiative of a few individuals. Every helpful technology was someone's brainwave.
| 23871 | No central authority can initiate decentralisation [Weil] |
| 23870 | Decentralisation is only possible by co-operation between strong and weak - which is absurd [Weil] |
| 23861 | Marx showed that capitalist oppression, because of competition, is unstoppable [Weil] |
| 23863 | Only individual people of good will can achieve social progress [Weil] |
| 23864 | Inequality could easily be mitigated, if it were not for the struggle for power [Weil] |
| 23865 | Morality would improve if people could pursue private interests [Weil] |
| 23866 | In oppressive societies the scope of actual control is extended by a religion of power [Weil] |
| 23867 | After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore [Weil] |
| 23868 | The pleasure of completing tasks motivates just as well as the whip of slavery [Weil] |
| 23869 | In the least evil societies people can think, control community life, and be autonomous [Weil] |