Preface: I’ve already posted one, but in my Introduction to Religious Studies course we have to create one page arguments every week based on our chapter readings. Let me emphasize ONE PAGE, and I am having difficulty composing something sturdy within 250 words. I’ve always loathed persuasive essays and never thought I could excel in it. I actually hoped I could manage a handful of doctorates without ever having to compose one. HA. Jokes aside, any help would be appreciated–even if it’s just a link to a site that provides short, solid, ACADEMIC arguments. Actually, that might be preferred, because I don’t really wish to have my thoughts torn to pieces. I’m sensitive like that. I just reeeeally want an A in all my classes.
Also, my theses are inspired by the chapters and don’t necessarily reflect my actual beliefs. So, don’t go thinking I’m a nutcase if I ever say something silly at some point reminiscent to socialist and communist thinkers that have come before me (Though, I never claimed to be a Capitalist. Hmm…*scratches chin*).
CRQ 2: The Individual Versus Society
“Human beings are never just individuals; they always belong to something.”
Daniel L. Pals, Eight Theories of Religion
It is not difficult to agree with Emile Durkheim’s idea that every major enterprise of human life exists because of society when examples of humans belonging to families, villages, nations, political parties, or other groups are provided. The idea that one’s very own surname ties him to not only an immediate family, but an elaborate `tree’ of ancestors that generally grows more and more intricate with every passing generation expresses how no one person ever existed without those that came before him. Considering this, the idea of individuality becomes elective and egoistic—hardly vital to the function of the system which sustains the individual.
The pervasive Western ideal of individuality is corrosive not only to the progression of our society but to the progression of the self. A person
attempting to affiliate himself with the polar concepts of individuality and sociality simultaneously will be faced with some difficulty. One of the trends Durkheim noticed after the Industrial and French revolutions is in the area of personal affairs: “This new freedom of individuals released from their old frameworks presented great opportunity and great risk. With it came the chance of great prosperity and self-realization but also the threat of loneliness and personal isolation.”
Just like an entire life spent in isolation is deemed unhealthy by western standards, a life spent in aim to achieve goals that only aid the self is an unwholesome conquest. It takes at least two forces to create one life, and if that life does not wield those forces so that more than one benefits, then a portion of the provided energy is lost. That lost energy amasses with every life that follows suit and creates a massive waste. For a society or an individual to progress, it must build upon its foundation through technology, and that requires knowledge provided to it by more than what one person can accumulate on his own.
