THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 15

How can a vaccination we get as a child help us understand the role of adversity in our lives?

Subject: Antifragile - Nietzche’s Dictum

Event:  Birthday of Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844

If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how. -Friedrich Nietzsche

Today is the birthday of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who was born in 1844.  The son of a Lutheran minister, Nietzsche famously proclaimed that “God is dead.”  This was not meant as a celebratory claim; instead, Nietzsche’s philosophy was an attempt to replace religion’s dogma, superstitions, and ancient texts with enlightened philosophy and art.  Nietzsche’s “Superman” was not a superhero; instead, it was a heroic posture that any person could take if he or she were committed to creativity, independence, self-control, and the passionate and unapologetic pursuit of individual growth.  

One of Nietzsche’s best-known aphorisms is “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”  Although it was first recorded in 1888, it is just as, if not more, relevant today.  The aphorism was adopted in 2018 by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book The Coddling of the American Mind.  As the authors explain, “Human beings need physical and mental challenges and stressors or we deteriorate.”  Just as the muscles of astronauts weaken when they are not challenged by the forces of gravity, children who are overprotected do not develop the necessary skills to learn and grow from failure or adversity.  

                                                              Image by WikiImages from Pixabay 

Unlike a glass teacup, which is fragile, or a plastic drinking cup, which is resilient, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that human beings are antifragile (a term they borrowed from author Nassim Nicholas Taleb). The term antifragile refers to the fact that some systems are not just resilient; instead, they actually require stressors in order to adapt and grow.  For example, our immune systems require exposure to different foods and bacteria in order to adapt and develop immunity.  Also, we give children vaccines in order to expose them to “threats in small doses, thereby giving children’s immune systems the opportunity to learn how to fend off similar threats in the future.”   By analogy, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that we should use Nietsche’s aphorism as a guide to helping young people develop their characters by exposing them to challenges and stressors in small doses in order to help them grow more resilient.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is meant by the term antifragile, and how does it relate to Nietzsche’s aphorism“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”?

Challenge - Aphorisms About Adversity:  Is it true that adversity makes us stronger rather than weaker?  Do we need setbacks, failures, challenges to develop our characters?  Research some quotations about what people have said about adversity.  Then, select one quotation that you like, and explain what insight it gives you about the role of adversity in life.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-October 15, 70 B.C.: Today is National Poetry Day founded in 1994 by British philanthropist and publisher William Sieghart.  Although this “National” day is celebrated primarily in Britain, there is a definite case for making it a global celebration:  It’s the birthday in 70 B.C. of the Roman poet Virgil, author of Rome’s national epic, the Aeneid.  Virgil influenced the great Latin poet Ovid, as well as Dante, the major Italian poet of the Middle Ages.  In Dante’s epic poem the Divine Comedy, Dante employs Virgil as his guide on his travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.  In his own epic, the Aeneid, Virgil traces the travels of the mythical hero Aeneas, a Trojan prince, who becomes Rome’s great hero and father.  Before his death in 19 B.C., Virgil supposedly left instructions for the Aeneid to be burned.  Emperor Augustus, however, wouldn’t allow it to be destroyed; instead, he ordered two of Virgil’s friends to edit it, and two years later it was published (3).

Sources:

1-The School of Life.  Great Thinkers.  London:  The School of Life, 2016.

2-Lukianoff, Greg and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling of the American Mind. New York:  Penguin Press, 2018.

3-Britannica.com “Virgil.”