Emma Rixhon - Philosophy
To what extent are acts of individual rebellion necessary for social progress?
focused rebellion.
He
writes
that
rebellion
“ undermines the very conception of
the individual” 22 by placing greater importance on the progress of the
community than on the life of the individual. However, this is only the case when
society is viewed as a collection of communities, and not as a large community in
itself. If one rebels in a liberal country still very aware of communities
determined, for example, by ethnicity, gender, or sexuality, a self-sacrificing
rebel would still be able to be viewed as communitarian. They would not be
rebelling simply for their own personal rights, but for the rights of everyone in
their community, and therefore a loyalty to their community is more important
than a sense of self-worth. However, if an individual rebelled in a communist
country, where everyone truly is viewed as equal and simply valued for their
labour, they would be seen largely as counter-productive for the progress and
efficiency of the society. In a way, a communist society can be seen as a machine
and the people who make it up are simply cogs and nails that permit it to
function. The importance of each cog is that it is there and does its designated
job, not that it fulfils itself and its desires, as it simply needs to support the
engine as a whole. One who attempts to rebel in a society where the community
is placed before the individual is seen as a threat to the functioning of the
machine, and therefore must be gotten rid of. This means that within a society
where equality is emphasized, rebellion would be an unsuitable means of gaining
social progress. Individual acts of rebellion are not needed in order to pursue
social progress in a non-liberal society, nor can they provide the sort of social
progress that is valued in one. The social progress that is valued in fully
community-focused society is the success of society as a whole, and therefore
arguing with the general population is not desirable. Ideally, harmony and total
acceptance of each other and the society is the ultimate social goal, and further
progress is not necessary.
However, in practice, societies that have valued the community as a whole
as more important than the individuals who made it up have become far more
oppressive than liberal societies. Rather than each individual being motivated to
succeed for their own personal gain and therefore ameliorating society
22
Camus, A. 1971 p21
214
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