Emma Rixhon - Philosophy
Contents
Introduction 206
The Liberal View 207
The Existentialist View 209
The Communitarian View 212
Conclusion 215
Bibliography 217
Abstract
The research question I chose for my Extended Essay in Philosophy
is “To what extent are acts of individual rebellion necessary for social
progress?” Mill argues that individuals are the building blocks of society,
and therefore each person should flourish in order for their society to do
so. He also claims that we need higher individuals, geniuses, to think and
act against the norm in order to develop our society. Camus emphasizes
the importance of individual rebels to further social progress, however
also introduces the possibility of rebellion as an undermining of “the
very conception of the individual.” This leads to the Communitarian idea
of the community as a whole being more important than the individuals
who form it. The greatest argument for Communitarianism is that people
define themselves and are conditioned by the society they live in. This
means that individual acts of rebellion cannot spring from nowhere, and
therefore may not even be necessary as gradual reformation may take
place. However, historically there have been individual rebellions at the
forefront of each social development. The most that can be confidently
said of these acts is that they are catalysts for social improvement.
However, individuality or a sense of identity other than solely being a
functioning part of society must be present for one to bring about social
progress. The implication of this conclusion is that what is necessary for
development is not individual acts of rebellion rather than a prominent
sense of self-worth in individual members of society.
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