Understandings

“Philosophies of leadership are determined by beliefs about human nature.”

I believe that people are will become chaotic without any form of leadership because of their selfish nature. My government style is based upon one dictator with a bunch of followers. The dictator’s responsibilities are to be respectful of their people and to make sure everyone stays true to their word in return for respect for themselves from the public. However, one may have to make adjustments on how they lead depending on who they are governing. For example: If there is a group of students who hate school, the form of leadership will need to be different than the leadership of a group of students who enjoy school and want to learn. Primarily, the understanding of “philosophies of leadership are determined by beliefs about human nature,” means, that, depending on the way a leaders followers’ “human nature” is exposed, determines the way one would have to govern. I fully support this statement because I believe that there would be absolutely no order without a dictator due to our motivations that lead us to bring out the selfishness inside of us; we would become disordered.

“The governed have a responsibility for their governance.”

The understanding of “the governed have a responsibility for their governance,” means that a Governor, president, or any type of dictator have duties to maintain people in a controlled environment in return for respect and trust. For example, if two people were stranded on an island with 2 coconuts, then the logical thing to do would be to split them; but since people are selfish, they would have to bring a third party (sovereign) in who would then get all of the goods and have duties of their own to make sure each person doesn’t break their word; they would have to respect the third party. Although this is a scenario just involving three people, the same principles stand for a group, state, or even country. However, even though the third party is most likely going to abuse the amount of power they have, I believe that it is a more controlled way of doing things compared to disorder due to the fact that humans are selfish beings who only care about themselves. I think that without any form of government, our society would become insane and it would be a recipe for disaster. So, to sum up this understanding of “the governed have a responsibility for their governance,” I believe that followers have to respect their leader even if there is the possibility of their idol abusing their power; it’s better than no government at all.

“Human Nature does not determine our actions; it inclines us towards certain actions.”

I know that everyone’s human nature is ultimately to do or think about selfish things; it’s the way of life. I believe that the statement, “human nature does not determine our actions; it inclines us towards certain actions,” is a right statement to abide by. It’s saying that human nature gives us the idea of, or pushes us to do, selfish things; however, it doesn’t mean we’ll follow through with those ideas or actions. For example: if you go to the grocery store, of course there are going to be something’s you just want to take off the shelves, but you don’t do it due to your structured way of living, who raised you, or the leader in your life. Every person has a selfish drive to them; it’s just some people hide behind an invisible mask and some come right out and show it. Hypothetically, if one were to live in an environment where they were surrounded by stealing, fighting, or any kind of violence, then they would have a different perception of how they’re supposed to display their desires compared to someone living in a controlled environment where stealing, fighting or any kind of violence was not displayed. It is a given that everyone has a selfish edge to them; one would be oblivious if they thought differently. There is absolutely nothing we can do to stop ourselves from being self interested; it’s our human nature.