Writing: Synthesis Essay-What is the individual’s duty to his government? What is the government’s duty to the individual? In an essay that synthesizes and uses for support at least 3 of the readings from this unit, discuss the obligations of individuals within a society. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect quotes. Refer to the sources by authors’ last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
People cannot exist without forming communities and societies. Alone, no human would survive; it is wide combinations of people with a variety of skills to that ultimately results in prosperity. Just as wolves hunt in a pack, people must flock together and use collective resources to fulfill individual needs. The key to maintaining this structure, however, is the establishment of a government. Writer Thomas Hobbes states in his book the Leviathan that the law of nature, known as lex natulis, states that “a man is forbidden to do what is destructive to his life.” People are created so that first and foremost in their minds lays self-preservation. Without a system of government, there is nothing to keep members of society from fighting with each other to better personal chances of survival, leading to chaos. Hobbes calls this Bellum omnium contra omne, meaning “the war of all against all”. Therefore, as soon as a group of individuals come together and agree form a community, they then proceed to develop a “body politic”. (Locke) This government is essential in that it creates stability and safety to those who created it. The system provides not only services to its citizens, but also supplies opportunities. Its job is not to restrict liberties, but to expand and protect them. It is made by the people, and empowered by the people, to provide for the desires of the people.
As the power of the government lies with the people, it is essential that the individual fulfills his or her duty so as to preserve the purpose and the power of its body politic, and therefore the other citizens. Once one as conceded to live under this system, they are obligated to live under the laws it has established. This is called a compact. (Locke) To this compact, one must volunteer certain natural liberties; in return he may gain civil liberties. (Russeau) Once bound, and individual transferred these rights to the government. In a dictatorship, these rights may be held or controlled by fear, while in democracies it may be held by the desires of the majority. This is critical, for if everyone was to do as they pleased, the government would have little power to regulate their actions. In Crito, Socrates asks, “Do you imagine that a state can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and trampled upon by individuals?” Therefore, the success of a state depends upon the strength of these “implied contracts” and can only succeed if withhold by the people. This is the individual’s obligation, not only to the government but indirectly to themselves.
However, in agreeing to live within certain boundaries and a government, one has also bound themselves to a community. Much like a government, the society may not prosper unless it is contributed to by all of its members. The only natural form of society is family; even within this much smaller scale one has obligations to their elders, their youngers, and their peers. (Russeau) It must be in the individual’s best interests to better the society, for they are then bettering the environment for themselves, their children, and their neighbors. The best way to do this is to reach enlightenment, an understanding one gains upon education and hard work. In Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, this understanding is embodied by the people who were able to free themselves of the chains created by the material world so that they may see the true nature of the much chased shadows. The education necessary to achieve this greatness was provided by the state “not to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the State” They must then use this knowledge to become leaders, philosophers, scientists, or teachers with the hopes of bettering the whole of society. To take from the society, one must also give back. This is the nature of the social contract theory.
While it seems as though these concepts may be so unreal as to be untrue, upon analyzing the society into which I was born I found they were already engrained within the culture. Disregarding the laws is not only unaccepted by the government who it betrays, but also looked down upon by the public. Integration into a new contract, or the idea of legal immigration, has become infinitely more complicated, ensuring that the ties will become even more binding. However, the ever prevalent essence of self-preservation has dominated the seats of democratic governments, and Locke’s belief in a smooth running democratic system has become disproved with time. Individual interests have overcome concern for the society, and instead of protecting the civil liberties demanded by the people in many cases the body politic has returned to the cave of materialistic desires. As can be seen in international movements such as Occupy Wall Street, people will fight for the return of their sacrificed liberties if they are not used for the public good. They are quick to remind us that the government was created by the people, and can also be destroyed by the people.
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