Quote:
Originally posted by Charlatan
In general I would agree that all people have the same potential... however there all kinds of other forces that have an effect on how one realizes that potential...
One of the economic realities is that there is a link between freedom and equality... you can't have both. You can create more freedom through legislation much as there is in the US but you end up with a lot of inequities... You can legislate equality much like Sweden but you lose a lot of freedom...
That is economics.
There are other forces like class at work in other cultures... The caste system creates inequities based on birth...
So yes, as individual entities stripped of all ideology and societal constraints, we have equal potential. Unfortunately that isn't the way the world works.
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I agree with your observations, but they are just that - observations of an abstract reality. Even in this context, we have to consider the definition of equal. As has been demonstrated in this thread - the natural tendency is to consider "equal" to be a relative measurement of wealth or success.
What I'm saying is exactly what you stated - "stripped of all ideology and societal constraints" or more clearly, common metrics of "success" we are all equal in our potential.
However I'd take it a bit further to say that even in the framework of what society consider's successful, for example: "being a free, rich American" - everyone has the potential to be just that, if they so chose. There is nothing stopping
anyone from adapting to this world
and its idoligical and social constraints to achieve what they desire.
Would you agree?