Research Paper on "Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few"

Research Paper 4 pages (1136 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Individuality vs. The Collective Good

The United States finds itself historically and perpetually locked into a philosophical and ideological debate over the notions of individuality and self-determination. On one hand, we are culturally predisposed to value these concepts, to pursue our own personal versions of happiness and to promote relative free thinking and creativity. These are the features that make capitalism such an attractive template for pursuing individualist aims. And yet, because this arrangement does also produce stark evidence of inequality, we find that it opens the door for regular criticism by those who choose a more collectivist worldview. Specifically, there is a notion that all of our ambitions should be channeled toward advancing the greater good and that the emphasis on individualism often undermines this advancement.

Valuing Self-Determination:

The notion of self-determination as an expression of individualism is a concept which has frequently been subject to debate in philosophical history. Many of the world's greatest thinkers have measured the question of individual entitlements against the importance of a strong unifying culture and, even beyond that, a shared sense of morality. Indeed, morality is often posited as the strongest argument in favor of the collective good and is generally enforced through a combination of cultural norms and regulatory or legal conditions. The contention is that humanity is beholden to certain social expectations, the adherence to which is determinant of nothing less than the stability, viability and longevity of a society. According to the text by Paul (2009), this is known as the 'social contract.'

As Paul indicates, though, the degree to which individual and shared interests are represented by the social contract is debatable. According to Paul, "philosophers through the ages such as Locke, Hobbes, and Hume have basically argued for the importance of a 'social contract' which stems from 'natural law' (for this one can go back as far as Aristotle but also Aquanis and Hobbes). This 'social contract' is provided only by the consent of individuals as natural law doesn't apply to the society as a whole but to the individual. In other words, the 'social contract' does not exist without the individual rights aligning themselves with the contract first." (Paul, p. 1)

This is an important distinction because it allows room for individual resistance. The persistence of free will denotes that in spite of the presence of natural law, we may be given over to individual points of disagreement with the collective. Or we may, out of necessity and survival, be motivated to act in contradiction to 'natural law' as a matter of self-interest. This is important because just as frequently as the social contract has been utilized to maintain necessary and positive social order, it has been exploited to serve authoritarian interests, to sustain power for select groups and to quell the impulse toward ethical resistance within a given society.

The United States is an excellent embodiment of the role that individuality plays in shaping a more ethically oriented and progressive society. A nation with a history of great rhetorical progressiveness has also been guilty of incredible, long-term and institutionalized atrocities such as slavery and segregation. In these examples, we can see that the term 'natural law' can be heavily distorted to promote the idea that, for the greater good, certain circumstances are simply preordained. This distortion is consistent with the argument by Ahmad (2010) "that man by nature will bow to the authority… READ MORE

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