First Principles of Cotometism
Cotometism begins from the most basic and universal condition of human life:
Each person has only one life, and that life is inherently vulnerable.
From this starting point, two principles follow: Life Autonomy and Reciprocity. These principles establish cotometism as a framework for evaluating human action, institutional design, and civic responsibility.
Life Autonomy
Life Autonomy is the real capacity for a person to shape their life through meaningful decisions and actions.
It is more than freedom from interference. It requires the presence of enabling conditions: health, knowledge, opportunity, security, and trust. Without these, freedom becomes symbolic rather than usable.
Key points:
- Definition: Life Autonomy is the measurable ability to act freely, pursue one’s values, and build a meaningful life.
- Fragility: Autonomy is not permanent. It is constantly at risk from coercion, deprivation, or overdependence.
- Right: Every individual has the right to pursue and accumulate Life Autonomy, provided they do not obstruct others from doing the same.
Cotometism therefore treats Life Autonomy as the primary standard of value. Institutions, policies, and behaviors are judged by whether they expand or undermine the durable conditions for individuals to pursue autonomy.
Reciprocity
Because every life is vulnerable, no individual can secure their life autonomy alone. Infrastructure, opportunity, and protection depend on cooperation.
Cotometism names this second principle Reciprocity: the voluntary defense and development of others’ life autonomy, which, in turn, sustains one’s own.
Key points:
- Definition: Reciprocity is the shared responsibility to defend and promote the conditions that allow all individuals to pursue Life Autonomy.
- Not Charity: It is not altruism or sacrifice in the conventional sense. It is a pragmatic recognition that freedom survives only when others’ freedom is also preserved.
- Scaling: Reciprocity takes different forms at different levels — from small acts of trust between neighbors to institutions that provide education, justice, and infrastructure.
Reciprocity is not ornamental. It is the survival condition of liberty itself.
Institutions as Tools
Cotometism inverts the logic of many ideologies. It does not begin with systems such as states, markets, or traditions. It begins with the individual life.
Institutions exist only as tools to protect and expand Life Autonomy. They are not ends in themselves. Their legitimacy depends entirely on whether they strengthen the ability of real people to live freely, without domination.
The Emergent Objective
Cotometism does not prescribe utopia. Instead, it identifies an emergent objective:
The continuous, universal expansion of Life Autonomy, sustained through voluntary reciprocity.
This objective arises naturally from the interaction of individual agency and reciprocal actions. It scales upward: from personal choices, to community cooperation, to national and global institutions.
Its aim is not equality of outcomes, but durable conditions in which every individual has the opportunity to shape their own life freely.
Why These Principles Matter
These first principles may appear self-evident, almost obvious: that each life is singular, that autonomy requires conditions, and that mutual reinforcement sustains liberty. What has been missing, until now, is a clear vocabulary and coherent framework to name and defend these conditions.
Cotometism’s value lies in making explicit what has long been practiced but rarely named:
- That freedom is not self-sufficient.
- That vulnerability is universal.
- That reciprocity is the condition of liberty that lasts.
Summary
The first principles of cotometism can be stated plainly:
- Life Autonomy — Each individual has one life, and the right to shape it through meaningful choice and action.
- Reciprocity — Because life autonomy is vulnerable, we reinforce one another’s freedom so that our own may endure.
- Institutions as Tools — Systems are legitimate only to the extent that they preserve and promote Life Autonomy.
- Emergent Objective — The continuous, universal expansion of life autonomy is the practical goal of human cooperation.