www.lesswrong.com/posts/bd7gxiEchvwEoZ6i7/kegan-and-cultivating-compassion
1 correction found
At stage 2, you see that you can interact with your wants. You’re no longer your wants, but you’ve now got a self that has the wants.
This shifts Kegan’s subject-object move one stage too early. In standard summaries of Kegan, stage 2 is still organized by one’s own needs/desires; those become objects of reflection at stage 3, not stage 2.
Full reasoning
Kegan’s stage model is defined by what is subject (what you are embedded in) versus what is object (what you can step back from and reflect on).
The problem with this sentence is that it says that at stage 2 a person can already "interact with" their wants and is "no longer" those wants. But summaries of Kegan’s subject-object structure place wants/desires in stage 2’s subject position, not object position.
Evidence:
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The Book of Kegan overview gives the stage table as:
- Stage 1: subject = "impulses, perceptions"
- Stage 2: subject = "needs, interests, desires"; object = "impulses, perceptions"
- Stage 3: object = "needs, interests, desires"
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A peer-reviewed article summarizing Kegan’s stages gives the same structure: Stage 2 has subject = "one’s needs, interests, desires" and object = "one’s impulses, perceptions."
So in Kegan’s framework, stage 2 is the point where a person can step back from impulses/perceptions, not from wants/desires. Treating wants as something one already "has" and can reflect on belongs one stage later, when stage 2’s subject matter becomes stage 3’s object.
2 sources
- The Kegan Stages — Book of Kegan
At a glance ... 1 · Impulsive | Impulses, perceptions | Reflexes, sensations; 2 · Imperial | Needs, interests, desires | Impulses, perceptions; 3 · Socialized | Relationships, shared values, others' expectations | Needs, interests, desires.
- Adolescents’ Experiences of a Developmental Coaching and Outdoor Adventure Education Program: Using Constructive-Developmental Theory to Investigate Individual Differences in Adolescent Meaning-Making and Developmental Growth
Table 1. Kegan’s Five Stages of Meaning-Making ... Stage 2 ‘Instrumental’ ... Subject: One’s needs, interests, desires; Object: One’s impulses, perceptions. Stage 3 ‘Socializing’ ... Object: One’s needs, interests, desires.