Pointers toward Dignity

by Robert W. Fuller

As my father saw me off to college, he gave me a notebook, in his own hand, titled Pointers. Though I did not accept all his advice, I soon realized that as important as what he said was that he said it. If the signposts in this collection stimulate you to clarify your beliefs, then, whether you agree or not, they will have served a purpose. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “It is not instruction but provocation that I can receive from another.”

46 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2016

About the author

Robert W. Fuller is author of Somebodies and Nobodies, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity, and (with co-author Pamela Gerloff) Dignity for All: How to Create a World Without Rankism. He coined the term rankism and is active worldwide in the Dignity Movement. His latest books are Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship?; Genomes, Menomes, Wenomes: Neuroscience and Human Dignity; Belonging: A Memoir, The Wisdom of Science; The Theory of Everybody; and The Rowan Tree: A Novel.

He earned his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University and taught at Columbia, where he co-authored Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics. He then served as president of Oberlin College.

On a trip to India, where he was a consultant to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Fuller witnessed firsthand the horrors of genocidal famine. Subsequently, he met with President Carter to propose the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger.

During the 1980s, Fuller traveled frequently to the USSR, working to improve the Cold War relationship with the U.S. For many years, he served as chairman of the global nonprofit Internews, which promotes democracy via free and independent media.

Fuller is now an international authority on dignity and rankism (abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative behavior towards those of lower rank). In 2011, he was the keynote speaker at "The National Conference on Dignity for All" hosted by the president of Bangladesh. Fuller has also served as visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Science and the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore. His work has been featured in scores of books and publications including the New York Times, O Magazine, and The Contemporary Goffman.

In his books, Fuller makes the case that rankism is a major obstacle to organizational effectiveness and develops a “politics of dignity” that addresses issues of social justice.