In particular, Barbu describes the evolution of civilization as the result of the arrival on the scene of the second part of a dichotomy very similar to (but also importantly different from) what you describe (and the beginning of a corresponding conflict/interaction). Under this view, we might construe personal development (of the sort of category that “increasing your agency” might fit into) as a sort of “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” echo of that same process.
Reading this, what I’m imagining is that the development of individuals happens through this conflict/interaction between ‘individual desires’ and ‘external reality’, and that the development of civilization happens through the conflict/interaction between ‘individual desires’ and ‘external social reality’. (Using the same sort of labeling scheme, I’m thinking of this as ‘self’ and ‘others’.)
I suspect there’s a detail being added by the “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” reference that I’m missing; the obvious echo is “if you already have machinery for managing the conflict/interaction of two forces that you need to do for individual agency in physical reality, just do the same thing for individual agency in social reality.” Thinking about it more, it seems like if we take the individual as the ‘fish’ and the civilization as the ‘reptile’, there’s a way in which the development of the reptile includes within it the development ‘as a fish’, either through the Sowell-style “Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late” or the forward-looking “when you try to develop your civilization, you have the options of 1) developing yourself and 2) developing others / the dynamics of the civilization.”
Reading this, what I’m imagining is that the development of individuals happens through this conflict/interaction between ‘individual desires’ and ‘external reality’, and that the development of civilization happens through the conflict/interaction between ‘individual desires’ and ‘external social reality’. (Using the same sort of labeling scheme, I’m thinking of this as ‘self’ and ‘others’.)
I suspect there’s a detail being added by the “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” reference that I’m missing; the obvious echo is “if you already have machinery for managing the conflict/interaction of two forces that you need to do for individual agency in physical reality, just do the same thing for individual agency in social reality.” Thinking about it more, it seems like if we take the individual as the ‘fish’ and the civilization as the ‘reptile’, there’s a way in which the development of the reptile includes within it the development ‘as a fish’, either through the Sowell-style “Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late” or the forward-looking “when you try to develop your civilization, you have the options of 1) developing yourself and 2) developing others / the dynamics of the civilization.”