Rights of an Individual Should Be Subordinated to the Needs of Scoiety

Roll no:16020400 Samey Noor Persuasive/Argumentative Essay In the words of famous German philosopher Hegel ‘A man is defined in relations to others and his greatest good is as a part of the society’. This saying emphasizes the importance of society to an individual implying that a man is of immense importance being a part of a society, and on his owns he is nothing. Hence the importance of a certain individual can be derived from the fact that how much has he contributed towards the welfare of his society. It can be seen that a man gains in moral and social respect only through subordinating and sacrificing his individual rights for the betterment of society. Over the time the debate has developed, whether the individual rights of a person are subservient to the needs of the society. Although individualism recognizes a man’s right over his life and happiness, however the purpose of collectivism is to ensure that the entire betterment of the society is given importance over personal and individual benefits. Individual rights are given to individuals by their religion, state or society. Most of these rights are inalienable and unforfeitable such as right of choosing their lifestyle, religion, education, freedom of speech etc and are commonly accepted in modernly advanced societies. Such rights are important and it is made sure that these rights are provided over the entire society. But the problem arises when some individual rights conflict with the needs of the society. For instance a man has his right to property at a location where government intends to build roads and infrastructure so as to reduce traffic. In such a circumstance there is a collective welfare of society on one hand and the right of an individual on the other hand, hence in such conditions the needs of a society should always supersede the rights of an individual so as to ensure the collective welfare of everyone. Similarly if there is a shortage of doctors in a

Cited: * http://pamirtimes.net/2011/12/19/individualism-and-collectivism/ * http://freedomkeys.com/collectivism.htm