Fox and Hedgehog Psychology

Fox and Hedgehog Psychology

(Interest and Intentionality Psychology)

Hedgehogs: It is said that they know one big thing. It could be honor, love freedom etc. They move like a bulldozer on their one big path for their one big thing and they can make major accomplishments or they can create major disasters. Woodrow Wilson was considered to be a hedgehog type who had no inclination to compromise. The publisher Larry Flint is another blue ribbon hedgehog; he converted to Christianity in 1980 circa and flipped back one hundred and eighty degrees a few months later. That should have been expected of him. A hedgehog has a vision problem; he can not see anything but what is right in front of him and it could be said of him that he is color blind.

When persons who are hedgehogs encounter a problem, they do one of three things: They either fuel up on tenacity and continue on their path, freeze up in perplexity, or flip one hundred and eighty degrees and go in the opposite direction.

Foxes: They have a tendency to be creative and if they cannot find an adequate path they will try to find a new one or make one themselves. They spontaneously take a path they deem adequate when necessary. They usually have a number of paths in mind at one time. Sharp foxes usually do not operate on a mono-motive; they have more than one motive for their actions. The operate by an internal gyroscope and this should be respected but not in an excessive manner.

Foxes and Hedgehogs are natural adversaries and foxes when they are fewer in number than hedgehogs are often brought to ruin by the simple-mindedness of hedgehogs.



Ideally an individual should have both hedgehog and fox qualities. Commitment is the great hedgehog quality and tactically is the great fox quality.

Before making the following statement, I want to make it clear that Lenin was totally in the wrong and in corruption with his words and actions. But, I want to point out that he was a blue ribbon fox-hedgehog who had the superior qualities of both types. He was able to personally strike at both of the flanks of his adversaries because he had what I call effective power. Effective power is the combination of both intellectual power and existential power, he had both the commitment of the hedgehog and the shrewdness of the fox. He was both a man of words and a man of action as it is called. The sharp fox knows how to get and use intellectual power and he knows how to navigate through storms.

Robert Frost Said, ?A road diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.? But a sharp fox will take a path between the road most traveled by, and the road least traveled by and if he cannot find one he will try to make a new one.