It's obviously true that nobody achieves things in a vacuum, since we all have some level of "privilege" given to us by our economic circumstances, the level of education available to us, our luckier heritable traits, etc. But for every successful person, there are countless others born to a similar level of privilege who squandered it. The claim that everyone owes their successes to the group ignores this.

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xboxnolifes 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Owing your success to the group does not imply that the success itself is a guarantee. Just that without the group, the odds are many many times worse.

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glimshe 7 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I agree, but many will say that the ones who didn't squander it were simply lucky.

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jagged-chisel 15 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

> for every successful person, there are countless others born to a similar level of privilege who squandered it.

Indeed.

> The claim that everyone owes their successes to the group ignores this.

This doesn't follow. Can you elaborate?

	▲	roarcher a few seconds ago \| parent [-]
		By "owe" I mean that the credit for their success belongs to the group and not the individual, because the individual was merely a product of good circumstances provided by the group. I believe this is the sentiment intended by the "no such thing as a self made man" crowd--no individual is special, and anyone else would achieve the similar things under similar circumstances. This ignores the fact that many others DO enjoy similar circumstances but achieve nothing.