First Principles: Responsibility

Not all that long ago (in a cosmic sense), in my rambling philosophical musings, I came across a notion that changed a great deal about how I view... well, everything. I cannot imagine that this hasn't been stated before by someone smarter and more eloquent than me, but I have never heard it put directly into these terms before.

Power is responsibility. Responsibility is power. They are not related concepts, they are two ways of looking that the exact same thing. They cannot in any sense be separated. If you have power over something, you are responsible for it. If you do not, you cannot be responsible for it. You can be blamed for it, but that is not in any way the same thing.

This likely seems to most to be self-evident, but few people I have raised the subject with have really considered the ramifications.


If you take responsibility for your life, you will inevitably develop control over it. And control is just another word for power. If you look at your actions and their consequence, and know them as your own, you will learn from them and improve.

If you deny responsibility for your life, you cannot control it. How can you learn from the consequences of your actions when you deny that they are related to your actions?

If you hold someone else responsible for your life, you are inevitably giving then control over your life. How can they be responsible for it if they do not control it?

Viewing the world through the lens of this philosophy has lead me to revise many thoughts and beliefs I once held, and added much clarity to others.



A final thought : Expecting someone to fix your life is making them responsible for it. Making them responsible for it requires that they control it. Consider this carefully before you expect the government to fix your life.