What Cotometism is Not
Why It’s Important to Explain what Cotometism is Not
Cotometism offers a framework centered on Life Autonomy—the right and ability of each individual to shape their life through free decisions and actions—and Reciprocity, where individuals mutually support each other’s autonomy to foster a cooperative society. In a world full of varied political, social, and philosophical ideologies, cotometism may sometimes be misunderstood or confused with ideas that share superficial similarities but operate on conflicting principles.
This section is vital because it differentiates cotometism from several popular, often divisive, or rigid ideologies present in contemporary discourse. Many such ideologies are based on group identities, zero-sum thinking, or impose restrictive moral codes—approaches that cotometism fundamentally rejects. By clarifying what cotometism is not, we highlight its distinctiveness, focusing on individual empowerment through opportunities and mutual support rather than through control, division, or ideological rigidity.
Further, understanding what cotometism is not helps guard against deviations from its core principles of Life Autonomy and Reciprocity or their emergent properties. This clarity is crucial for maintaining cotometism’s commitment to individual agency, mutual respect, and pragmatic cooperation, ensuring that we do not stray into frameworks that conflict with these values. By remaining vigilant, cotometism fosters a system where freedom, forgiveness, and continuous improvement can thrive, without falling into divisiveness or control that limits autonomy and mutual growth.
By distinguishing cotometism from other frameworks and ideologies, this section ensures that we remain focused on building a society where Life Autonomy is expanded for all, in a constructive, cooperative, and forward-looking manner.
What Cotometism is Not
Cotometism is based on two core principles: Life Autonomy (the ability of individuals to shape their own lives through free decision-making) and Reciprocity (the mutual support of others’ autonomy). It fundamentally rejects many divisive or oppressive ideologies that define people by group identity, impose rigid moral codes, or focus on conflict rather than cooperation. Below, we clarify what cotometism is not to better define its distinctive approach:
1. Cotometism Does Not Use Identity as a Standard
Group identity—culture, faith, heritage, shared experience—can shape how people understand themselves and connect with others. Cotometism welcomes that diversity of perspective.
But it does not use identity to decide claims, set political priority, or grant credibility. It does not assign weight by race, gender, class, or background.
Instead, cotometism asks a clear, universal question of any action or policy:
Does it expand or reduce Life Autonomy, without undermining others’ ability to do the same?
Where other approaches interpret outcomes primarily through group categories, cotometism demands direct clarity:
Who acted, what changed, and how did that change affect people’s usable options?
Cotometism holds that every person has one life, and that life is theirs to shape—regardless of group membership. This is the universal right to pursue, build, and protect one’s Life Autonomy, without infringing the same right in others.
2. Cotometism is not Zero-Sum or Conflict-Based
Some ideologies frame society as a struggle between winners and losers, oppressors and oppressed. Cotometism rejects this view.
Life Autonomy is not a scarce resource. When reinforced by Reciprocity, it can expand—often for many at once. Conflict may occur, and exploitation exists when one expands autonomy by eroding another’s. But cotometism does not treat struggle as society’s foundation or destiny.
Instead, it emphasizes cooperation: building conditions where people can grow their autonomy without reducing others’ capacity to do the same. Progress is not about defeating opponents—it is about multiplying opportunity to live freely.
3. Cotometism Does not Seek Equal Outcomes or Mandate Redistribution
Cotometism supports the growth of opportunity, not the equalization of results.
It does not promote redistribution of wealth or power as a way to balance categories or correct grievances. Instead, it asks:
Does this expand opportunities to build and express Life Autonomy, without coercion or imposed dependency?
Opportunity matters—people need safety, tools, skills, and time to act freely. Cotometism supports increasing these conditions where they are scarce. But it does not assume that outcome gaps are themselves unjust, nor that parity equals fairness.
Lives differ—in goals, timing, risk, capacity, and choice. What must not differ is the chance to try. Cotometism protects that chance—not by making outcomes match, but by making self-directed effort possible.
4. Cotometism Refuses Paternalism and Determinism
Cotometism holds that Life Autonomy must be earned, but never pre-decided, denied, or dictated.
It refuses paternalism, the idea that institutions, elites, or experts should decide what’s best for others. Cotometism affirms self-determination: the right of each person to assess, choose, adapt, and grow through their own effort. Guidance and information may be offered, but compliance is never presumed.
It also refuses determinism, the belief that a person’s outcomes are established by their environment, identity, or social origin. Conditions matter, but they are not destiny. People are agents. Support, when offered, should expand their ability to choose and act, not replace it.
No one’s path is guaranteed, nor is it established in advance.
People should be free to try, free to fail, and free to improve, on their own terms.
5. Cotometism is not Utopian or Dogmatic
Cotometism does not aim for a flawless society where all problems are solved by a perfect design.
It does not promote utopianism, which often neglects human complexity and assumes that ideal conditions can be fully engineered. Cotometism takes a pragmatic approach: it recognizes that people and societies must adapt to changing conditions and challenges. The aim is not perfection, but the ever-ongoing expansion of Life Autonomy.
Cotometism also does not rely on dogma, unquestioning adherence to a single ideology. It welcomes continuous refinement: testing, learning, adjusting. The goal is not loyalty to a framework, but fidelity to whatever approaches most effectively expand Life Autonomy over time.
6. Cotometism is not Collectivist or Authoritarian
Cotometism begins with the individual: each person’s life, each person’s potential to direct it.
It refuses collectivism, where group priorities override individual freedom and personal autonomy is suppressed. Cotometism affirms that cooperation should arise from voluntary Reciprocity, not from demands for conformity or sacrifice of self.
It also refuses authoritarianism, systems that centralize power in a leader or elite, requiring obedience and suppressing independent thought and choice.
Cooperation and mutual aid are meaningful only when they reflect free choice, not enforced submission. Societies and institutions aligned with cotometism strengthen Life Autonomy—they do not extinguish it.
7. Cotometism is not Elitist or Meritocratic
Cotometism does not treat wealth, talent, or pedigree as reasons to claim greater rights or authority.
It refuses elitism — the belief that a privileged class should steer society or carry special moral weight. And while skill, effort, and talent can expand a person’s own Life Autonomy, Cotometism rejects the step that meritocracy takes: the idea that success entitles someone to control others.
In Cotometism, success has value only when it expands autonomy — your own or that of others. It loses value when used to justify domination, exclusion, or authority over lives not your own.
Opportunity is not a prize or a reward. It is the condition that allows growth. Expanding opportunity for one person does not reduce it for others; even when uneven, each gain strengthens the whole. Cotometism affirms that no one should be excluded from opportunity, trust, or participation because of where they began.
Those with greater resources or capacities often have a wider ability to practice Reciprocity — to promote others’ pursuit of Life Autonomy without reducing their own. This does not make them more important. It simply expands their chance to contribute. Cotometism welcomes such contributions — freely chosen, never coerced — as genuine expressions of Life Autonomy.
8. Cotometism is not Nihilistic or Cynical
Cotometism begins from the condition that each person has one life and must have the opportunity to shape it.
It resists nihilism, which claims that life lacks meaning or value. Cotometism does not impose any external source of meaning—but it supports each person’s capacity to define and pursue a direction of their own choosing. Life Autonomy—the ability to make meaningful, self-directed choices—is its core concern.
It also resists cynicism, the idea that people cannot be trusted, that effort is futile, or that nothing improves. Cotometism does not operate from despair. It reasons from evidence: that when individuals have real opportunity and usable options, they often act in ways that defend and enhance life autonomy—for themselves and for others.
Cotometism does not promise fulfillment, but it protects the conditions in which fulfillment can be sought.
9. Cotometism is not Absolutist
Cotometism does not impose fixed answers or one-size-fits-all rules.
It refuses absolutism, the belief that a single, rigid set of truths can govern all situations. Life is varied, contexts change, and cotometism recognizes that people must respond to complexity—not just follow commands.
Instead of enforcing final answers, cotometism promotes adaptive clarity: testing actions by their effect on Life Autonomy. The standard remains constant—does this expand or reduce people’s ability to shape their lives without infringing others’ right to do the same?—but the applications must remain responsive.
Cotometism affirms that principles must guide—but not calcify—how we live. Systems that support Life Autonomy must also be capable of evolving with it.
Conclusion: Cotometism’s Unique Focus
Cotometism starts from two simple truths: each person has one life to shape, and no one secures that life alone. From there, it sets a clear measure: Does this expand Life Autonomy without denying it to others?
It is not identity-based, conflict-driven, redistributive, paternalistic, utopian, collectivist, elitist, nihilistic, or absolutist. Those approaches replace clarity with control.
Cotometism offers something different: a framework that prizes opportunity, reciprocity, and adaptability. Its promise is not a perfect society, but a practical direction—toward more people, with more genuine ability, to live on their own terms.