Yesterday we considered man as an individual. There are different aspects of
an individual personality, different levels of needs of an individual. In order
to develop complete personality, to satisfy the needs progressively but
simultaneously at all levels, certain specific kinds of effort's are needed.
These, too, were considered. But man does not exist merely as an individual. The
individual comprising of body, mind, intellect and soul as not limited to
singular "I" but is also inseparably related to the plural "We". Therefore we
must also think of the group or the society.
It is a simple truth treat society is a group of men. But how did society
come into being? Many views have been put forward by philosophers. Those
propounded in the West and on which the western socio-political structure is
based can be broadly summarized as "society is a group of individuals brought
into being by the individuals by an agreement among themselves." This view is
known as "Social Contract Theory". Individual is given greater importance in.
this view. If there are any differences in different western views, these
pertain only to the questions, namely, "If the individual produced a society.
then in whom the residual power remains vested, in the society or in the
individual? Does the individual have the right to change the society? Can the
society impose a variety or regulations on the individual and claim a right to
the allegiance of the individual to itself? Or the individual is free as regards
these questions?"
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