The Individual and Society
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As we approach a new millennium and consider what there is in Western civilization that should be maintained and perpetuated, we may consider a wide variety of concrete manifestations of our culture, from works of art to political systems, from religious institutions to internal social relationships within a given society. Such an analysis may indicate as many differences as similarities--different countries have different political systems, different religions emphasize different modes of worship, different societies have cultural manifestations that seem peculiarly their own. However, if we look carefully enough, we will find that underlying these concrete manifestations are certain ideas and attitudes which infuse Western civilization and which, while we may not always have lived up to them, have shaped our institutions and remain strong so as to be at the heart of public debates today. Among these ideas are the uniqueness of the individual, the idea of innate freedom, and the resulting concept of how the individual is related to his or her society. The countries of Europe developed their political structures based on certain shared traditions as well as regional differences, and the system developed in the United States drew from the European tradition while also making significant changes based on the writings of theorists such as Locke and Rousseau. Like Locke, Hobbes was a rationalist who exalted the creative role of reason in all things (James 86), and an empha
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ative would be chosen by a larger number of citizens and so would find it more difficult to succeed if they were unworthy. A republican form of government made it possible to bring more territory into the fold, with the result that more parties and factions would be produced and would have to compromise with one another to get anything done. The fact that the American system has been embodied in a strong constitution is one of the reasons it has maintained its essential nature for two centuries while also allowing for changes to meet new conditions.
A look at world history shows that most societies in the ancient world came into being when one leader proved more powerful than another, and the civilizations that emerged from this were usually held together by coercion and force, with a central power, such as a monarch, maintaining control. It was in the West where a different form emerged in the Greek city-states, the democracy. At different times, the Greeks used different forms--oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy--and they passed ideas and analyses of these forms down to others:
They did not "invent" any of these forms of government, for governmental forms evolve and are not the inventions of individuals. But they did use
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Approximate Word count = 1582
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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