Rule 1 | Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life

Hi, this is the first of a 12-part series of short videos based on my new book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. Each video features one of the rules, as well as a paragraph from the chapter based on that rule.

Rule One: Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievement.

This paragraph is from a section entitled "What Should We Point To." It is worth considering deeply just how necessity limits the universe of viable solutions and implementable plans.

First, a plan must in principle solve some genuine problem. Second, it must appeal to others, often in the face of competing plans, or those others will not cooperate and might well object. If I value something, therefore, I must determine how to value it so that others potentially benefit. It cannot just be good for me; it must be good for me and the people around me, and even that is not enough.

Which means that there are even more constraints on how the world must be perceived and acted upon. The manner in which I view and value the world, integrally associated with the plans I am making, has to work for me, my family, and the broader community. Furthermore, it needs to work today in a manner that does not make a worse hash of tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year, even the next decade or century.

A good solution to an important problem must be repeatable without deterioration across repetitions, iterable in a word, across people and across time. These universal constraints manifest biologically and impose socially, reducing the complexity of the world to something approximating a universally understandable domain of value.

This is exceptionally important. Although there are an unlimited number of problems, as well as an unlimited number of potential solutions, there are a comparatively limited number of solutions that work practically, psychologically, and socially simultaneously. The fact of limited solutions implies the existence of something like a natural ethic. Variable, perhaps, as human languages are variable, but still characterized by something solid and universally recognizable at its base.

It is the reality of this natural ethic that makes thoughtless denigration of social institutions both wrong and dangerous. Wrong and dangerous because those institutions have evolved to solve problems that must be solved for life to continue. They are by no means perfect, but making them better rather than worse is a tricky problem indeed.

Beyond Order will be available in print and audio format March 2nd, 2021, but can be pre-ordered before that. Details can be found at jordanbpeterson.com. A more precise URL can be found in the description of this video.