Four Arguments Against Communitarianism Today
In the world we live in today, I believe that Communitarianism is a promising ideology that could be used to ultimately organize society. Over time, we have become people who accept absolute power ruled by monarchs who have no consideration for fairness and equality. Communitarians strongly believe that humans are naturally compassionate beings but our society has changed us into greedy and selfish people over time. This theory is very strong and truthful to our society today and Communitarians seem to have a grasp on what society needs in order to improve and become organized. They emphasize the belief that one should live by practicing interdependence and using our morality to always think of the common good. Although the other four ideologies have different beliefs and may raise concerns and disagreements on the beliefs of communitarianism, I believe that Communitarianism is the right
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choice to organize society.
Communitarianism emphasizes the belief that people are naturally social and reasoning in addition to the significance of direct democracy and freedom through self rule.
Communitarianism focuses on the belief that humans are naturally compassionate and kind upon birth and are social and reasoning. They believe that behaviors such as selfishness and greed develop over time and are a product of society’s negative influences. Our morality is said to teach us to think about the public good and according to J. J. Rousseau, the philosopher behind communitarianism, humans have a natural capacity for compassion but our judgement has become clouded due to absolute power by monarchs, private property and inequality (Communitarianism Lecture). In the real world, selfishness and greed from impacted industries such as business are an example of how society has shaped
human beings into those who aim to be on top of the pyramid and knock down every competitor blocking their goals. Conservatives, on the other hand, strongly disagree with this belief behind Communitarianism. Conservatives strongly believe that people are naturally selfish since birth and this behavior is can be restrained through the means of schooling, family, and presence of the police. They believe that people must be restrained or civilized due to their natural selfishness and greed. Their belief on morality is that it teaches people to live harmoniously with others. Rather than being considerate about others, conservatives believe that we are naturally flawed and driven by these natural urges. Communitarianism is better for our society because Communitarists are very considerate and believe in making decisions for the public good and the benefit of everyone in society (Communitarianism Lecture). They do not try to restrain and civilize people because they believe that society had bred selfishness and greed and it can be contained if society is changed for the better and reorganized.
A primary principle of Communitarianism is the principle of direct democracy and serving others for the common good. They strongly favor democracy because they want a government that is representative, responsive, and is actively involved in participation for the benefit of the citizens in society (Course Reader: The Responsive Communitarian Platform, p.36). This ideological school of thought strongly emphasizes the involvement of all citizens and a strong, active government power to reach their goal of making decisions to benefit not just the individual, but the whole society. On the contrary, the liberal ideological school of thought highly disagrees with these beliefs and present their opposing views to this communitarianism principle. Liberalists believes that the good of society comes from focusing on the individual and being independent and self interested to push themselves to be the best that they can be. As a result, it will indirectly produce goods that are the best and will benefit society. This is supported by the in class lecture stating that the only concern liberalist have for the good of society is that it comes from free and fair competition among individuals who are self-interested (Liberalism Lecture). Early liberalists believed in the implementation of a very limited government that only focused on the freedom of men who owned property or land (Liberalism Lecture). All in all, Liberalists argue that people are self interested and only make decisions for their main benefit. However, they are wrong because people should not be self interested and should be working together to make decisions for the common good which is why Communitarianism should be adopted to organize our society to benefit everyone.
The Communitarian ideological school of thought has a distinct goal that emphasizes freedom through self rule. They believe that self rule through living by rules you have created for yourself in a community is very important and can be achieved through deliberation, the act of letting go of selfish urges in obligatory circumstances (Communitarianism Lecture). They also believe that if society can be changed, human behavior will follow through and change as well. The anarchist ideological school of thought differs greatly in their goals in comparison to communitarianism. Anarchism’s goal is freedom through decentralization of the government (Anarchism Lecture). They believe in a government with loose confederation and no concentration of power to any particular branch. The power is distributed to all different branches and decisions are based on popular control. They aim to achieve this goal through loose, voluntary association of the citizens. In the modern society, websites such as Wikipedia demonstrate the belief that decision making is based on popular control of the people. Any person is able to edit and make changes to the site and the changes are either kept on the site or removed and edited upon by another person. The Communitarian belief of freedom through self rule is more appealing to our society than the Anarchist belief in freedom through decentralization. This is because Communitarianism is geared towards pushing us to let go of selfish urges and changing society for the better and thus reflect on human behavior.
All in all, Communitarianism is an ideological school of thought that has distinct principles, beliefs, and goals that I believe can lay out the best way to organize society. Although people from other ideological schools of thoughts may disagree with the points and beliefs of communitarians, I believe otherwise because they emphasize selflessness, living and making choices for the benefit of everyone and serving others rather than just yourself.
choice to organize society.
Communitarianism emphasizes the belief that people are naturally social and reasoning in addition to the significance of direct democracy and freedom through self rule.
Communitarianism focuses on the belief that humans are naturally compassionate and kind upon birth and are social and reasoning. They believe that behaviors such as selfishness and greed develop over time and are a product of society’s negative influences. Our morality is said to teach us to think about the public good and according to J. J. Rousseau, the philosopher behind communitarianism, humans have a natural capacity for compassion but our judgement has become clouded due to absolute power by monarchs, private property and inequality (Communitarianism Lecture). In the real world, selfishness and greed from impacted industries such as business are an example of how society has shaped
human beings into those who aim to be on top of the pyramid and knock down every competitor blocking their goals. Conservatives, on the other hand, strongly disagree with this belief behind Communitarianism. Conservatives strongly believe that people are naturally selfish since birth and this behavior is can be restrained through the means of schooling, family, and presence of the police. They believe that people must be restrained or civilized due to their natural selfishness and greed. Their belief on morality is that it teaches people to live harmoniously with others. Rather than being considerate about others, conservatives believe that we are naturally flawed and driven by these natural urges. Communitarianism is better for our society because Communitarists are very considerate and believe in making decisions for the public good and the benefit of everyone in society (Communitarianism Lecture). They do not try to restrain and civilize people because they believe that society had bred selfishness and greed and it can be contained if society is changed for the better and reorganized.
A primary principle of Communitarianism is the principle of direct democracy and serving others for the common good. They strongly favor democracy because they want a government that is representative, responsive, and is actively involved in participation for the benefit of the citizens in society (Course Reader: The Responsive Communitarian Platform, p.36). This ideological school of thought strongly emphasizes the involvement of all citizens and a strong, active government power to reach their goal of making decisions to benefit not just the individual, but the whole society. On the contrary, the liberal ideological school of thought highly disagrees with these beliefs and present their opposing views to this communitarianism principle. Liberalists believes that the good of society comes from focusing on the individual and being independent and self interested to push themselves to be the best that they can be. As a result, it will indirectly produce goods that are the best and will benefit society. This is supported by the in class lecture stating that the only concern liberalist have for the good of society is that it comes from free and fair competition among individuals who are self-interested (Liberalism Lecture). Early liberalists believed in the implementation of a very limited government that only focused on the freedom of men who owned property or land (Liberalism Lecture). All in all, Liberalists argue that people are self interested and only make decisions for their main benefit. However, they are wrong because people should not be self interested and should be working together to make decisions for the common good which is why Communitarianism should be adopted to organize our society to benefit everyone.
The Communitarian ideological school of thought has a distinct goal that emphasizes freedom through self rule. They believe that self rule through living by rules you have created for yourself in a community is very important and can be achieved through deliberation, the act of letting go of selfish urges in obligatory circumstances (Communitarianism Lecture). They also believe that if society can be changed, human behavior will follow through and change as well. The anarchist ideological school of thought differs greatly in their goals in comparison to communitarianism. Anarchism’s goal is freedom through decentralization of the government (Anarchism Lecture). They believe in a government with loose confederation and no concentration of power to any particular branch. The power is distributed to all different branches and decisions are based on popular control. They aim to achieve this goal through loose, voluntary association of the citizens. In the modern society, websites such as Wikipedia demonstrate the belief that decision making is based on popular control of the people. Any person is able to edit and make changes to the site and the changes are either kept on the site or removed and edited upon by another person. The Communitarian belief of freedom through self rule is more appealing to our society than the Anarchist belief in freedom through decentralization. This is because Communitarianism is geared towards pushing us to let go of selfish urges and changing society for the better and thus reflect on human behavior.
All in all, Communitarianism is an ideological school of thought that has distinct principles, beliefs, and goals that I believe can lay out the best way to organize society. Although people from other ideological schools of thoughts may disagree with the points and beliefs of communitarians, I believe otherwise because they emphasize selflessness, living and making choices for the benefit of everyone and serving others rather than just yourself.