# The Four Quadrants of Conformism - Paul Graham Synced: [[2023_11_30]] 6:03 AM Last Highlighted: [[2023_08_20]] Tags: [[philosophy]] [[Philosophy]]  ## Highlights [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59t5bg63nsmj6rc7gzyx56t) > Imagine a Cartesian coordinate system whose horizontal axis runs from conventional-minded on the left to independent-minded on the right, and whose vertical axis runs from passive at the bottom to aggressive at the top. The resulting four quadrants define four types of people. Starting in the upper left and going counter-clockwise: aggressively conventional-minded, passively conventional-minded, passively independent-minded, and aggressively independent-minded. [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59t603ejwxn595f99a9khps) > The kids in the upper left quadrant, the aggressively conventional-minded ones, are the tattletales. They believe not only that rules must be obeyed, but that those who disobey them must be punished. [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59t65yxqwmzf98wkdxswwp0) > The kids in the lower left quadrant, the passively conventional-minded, are the sheep. They're careful to obey the rules, but when other kids break them, their impulse is to worry that those kids will be punished, not to ensure that they will. [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59t68qdra6cjr93p8ytnemv) > The kids in the lower right quadrant, the passively independent-minded, are the dreamy ones. They don't care much about rules and probably aren't 100% sure what the rules even are. [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59t6ez9j4h25abwhgxntv75) > And the kids in the upper right quadrant, the aggressively independent-minded, are the naughty ones. When they see a rule, their first impulse is to question it. Merely being told what to do makes them inclined to do the opposite. [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59v55f55p421m31j7fsmdht) > In adulthood we can recognize the four types by their distinctive calls, much as you could recognize four species of birds. The call of the aggressively conventional-minded is "Crush <outgroup>!" (It's rather alarming to see an exclamation point after a variable, but that's the whole problem with the aggressively conventional-minded.) The call of the passively conventional-minded is "What will the neighbors think?" The call of the passively independent-minded is "To each his own." And the call of the aggressively independent-minded is "Eppur si muove." [[2023_07_14]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h59v7dst1ez9h3f9h5p1wkbc) > Princeton professor Robert George recently wrote: > > I sometimes ask students what their position on slavery would have been had they been white and living in the South before abolition. Guess what? They all would have been abolitionists! They all would have bravely spoken out against slavery, and worked tirelessly against it. [[2023_08_20]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h885hczp2gdy1fge797mxbga) > Having ideas in a world where some ideas are banned is like playing soccer on a pitch that has a minefield in one corner. You don't just play the same game you would have, but on a different shaped pitch. You play a much more subdued game even on the ground that's safe.