Order

Vertical (0) — Horizontal (100) · one of the 20 worldview axes

The six statements

Each axis is measured by six statements answered on a five-point scale. Statements 1, 2 and 5 pull toward Vertical; 3, 4 and 6 toward Horizontal.

  1. Power should be distributed as equally as possible among people.
  2. Strict hierarchies tend to produce resentment and stagnation more than wisdom or good outcomes.
  3. Some people genuinely know better than others, and proper authority structures exist to put that knowledge in charge.
  4. Deferring to legitimate authorities and inherited traditions is a genuine good, not merely a constraint on freedom.
  5. Ordinary people, given good information and time to talk, can generally govern their own affairs as well as any expert would.
  6. A young doctor rightly defers to a senior colleague with decades of experience; pretending the two opinions weigh equally is a fiction that costs lives.

Toward Vertical (85)

Between the poles (15)

Toward Horizontal (70)

230 thinkers have no sourced position on this axis and are omitted rather than guessed.

Find your own positionAll 20 axes