12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Foreword-Overture

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapter 10-Coda

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Personal Responsibility Makes the World a Fairer and Better Place

In Chapter 7, Peterson writes:

Aim up. Pay attention. Fix what you can fix. Don’t be arrogant in your knowledge. Strive for humility, because totalitarian pride manifests itself in intolerance, oppression, torture, and death. Becomes aware of your own insufficiency—your cowardice, malevolence, resentment and hatred. Consider the murderousness of your own spirit before you dare accuse others, and before you attempt to repair the fabric of the world. Maybe it’s not the world that’s at fault. Maybe it’s you. You’ve failed to make the mark. You’ve missed the target. You’ve fallen short of the glory of God. You’ve sinned. And all of that is your contribution to the insufficiency and evil of the world. And, above all, don’t lie. Don’t lie about anything, ever. Lying leads to Hell (198).

This quote sums up most of the main ideas in the book, and within the quick-succession list of rules is the repetition of the role of individual awareness, reflection, and responsibility in creating a meaningful life and just community of peers. Many of the items center on recognizing flaws and areas for improvement within one’s self, though at other moments in the book, Peterson emphasizes the need to be kind to one’s self as well. There is an appropriate self-consciousness between arrogance and self-loathing, he argues, and individuals who can land in that productive space can follow Peterson’s rules and feel meaning even within the limitations and pain of life on Earth.

Peterson riles against radical social change because it removes the individual from the locus of ultimately responsibility. Those who want to change the governing structures of society, he suggests, should instead change themselves. This viewpoint is controversial. Peterson occasionally notes that there are real inequities and abuses that exist outside the realm and influence of his “rules for life,” but he holds that the rules he presents are more or less universal. There is discussion of social hierarchies, but no indication that any person who falls anywhere on that hierarchy should follow different rules for life or alter the ones presented in the book. He says in Chapter 1 that even when conditions are less than ideal in lobster communities, the ones who “stand up straight with their shoulders back” remain happier and more confident than their counterparts who produce less serotonin (15).

Though Peterson continually stresses that life is rooted in suffering and full of pain, he consistently imagines the possibility of a better world in which people take personal responsibility for the circumstances of their lives and make intelligent, careful adjustments to improve them. He criticizes mainstream culture for its cynicism, which acknowledges suffering but doesn’t reconceive of chaos as an opportunity for creativity and possibility.

The Importance of Socialization

Even though the book emphasizes individual action and improvement, larger society is, for Peterson, a crucial aspect of decision-making and moral guidance. Though he criticizes people by and large for actions he judges to be “stupid” and “anti-human” (these are words he uses in the book; for examples, see pages 101 and 290), he also expresses wonder and pride in the abilities of humans to forge societies and maintain them through challenges. He says that humans are “seriously remarkable creatures” (296) and credits the most “wounded people” for “holding [society] together” (61). He calls their success “an ongoing miracle of fortitude and perseverance” (61).

In the Overture, Peterson writes, “It is possible to transcend slavish adherence to the group and its doctrines and, simultaneously, to avoid the pitfalls of its opposite extreme, nihilism. It is possible, instead, to find sufficient meaning in individual consciousness and experience” (xxxiii). One can be a member of society without mindless conformity, Peterson asserts. Later, he writes, “Poorly socialized children have terrible lives” (135), and adds, “It is the primary duty of parents to make their children socially desirable” (143). He explicitly says that that duty is more important than “[ensuring] happiness, [fostering] creativity, or [boosting] self-esteem” (143). Peterson therefore upholds the idea that societal conventions are useful and ordered but the individual should follow them consciously and thoughtfully.

At several points in the book, Peterson expresses his extreme distrust of radicalism and social reform. In general, he says, people’s behaviors, structures (including hierarchies), and cultures have emerged logically and strategically over time. He references “ancient wisdom” that he sees as building blocks for his modern rules (368). He advocates striving for change and improvement where there are problems or shortcomings, but he rejects standard tenets of leftist reform or revolutionary ideology, namely altering the gendered treatment of children (he discusses this most centrally in Chapter 11, especially on pages 317-32).

Overall, Peterson is critical of individual choices and generational nihilism, but he prizes the longevity of human society before the present generation even as he discusses historical horrors and atrocities, like the Holocaust and 20th-century totalitarian regimes. He locates these problems in bourgeoning disdain for life, so he advocates the opposite: an appreciation for life and one’s fellow humans, who come together to form societies.

The Role of Ancient Wisdom in Establishing Virtues

Peterson introduces the concept of ancient wisdom in the first chapter when he talks about lobsters’ territoriality battles and social hierarchies. Every lobster’s posture signals to potential challengers whether or not that lobster is a good candidate for a fight for new territory. Confident lobsters have repeated success in defending or obtaining territory, whereas lobsters with low levels of serotonin and timid posture repeatedly lose fights for space and mates. Peterson tells his readers to “look for […] inspiration to the victorious lobster, with its 350 million years of practical wisdom” (28).

Usually, the ancient wisdom and practical generational knowledge Peterson advocates is not quite so old, and it is often rooted in humanity rather than other corners of the animal kingdom. Peterson frequently references the Biblical Book of Genesis to discuss basic human tendencies. Working from that timeline, he discusses a few specific developments of human society and maintains a generally favorable view of adherence to social norms.

To establish direction in life, Peterson insists, “Some reliance on tradition can help […] It is reasonable to do what other people have always done, unless we have a very good reason not to” (221). In a later chapter, he takes up the issue of patriarchy as an example of a social convention rooted in old belief systems that he sees as valuable and logical. He denies patriarchal oppression against women, describing patriarchy as “an imperfect collective attempt by men and women, stretching over millennia, to free each other from privation, disease, and drudgery” (304). He does not deny sexism outright, but he makes no mention of matriarchal societies and denies the need for gender-structured reforms of any kind. His evidence is his interpretation of the behavior of people in the past.

Peterson blames postmodernism and nihilism for many of the problems he identifies in society today. These are entities that he situates as 20th-century developments in Western cultures that have taken hold in political and social institutions. In Peterson’s view, they have moved away from reliable ancient wisdom.