[Work] GRE issue #93
TOPIC: ISSUE93 - "The concept of 'individual responsibility' is a necessary
fiction. Although societies must hold individuals accountable for their own
actions, people's behavior is largely determined by forces not of their own
making."
WORDS: 482 TIME: 00:45:00
The speaker asserts that individual responsibility is nothing more than an
illusion and that it is outer forces rather than people's willingness that
determines people's behavior. I think the statement reasonable in part. While
society has great influences on people, they are still capable of making
choices and be responsible for their decisions.
Admittedly, our behavior is affected by the circumstances. We have
tendency to conform to our society, even without having any idea why we do
so. An illustrating case is that when Christmas comes, people all around the
world will "celebrate", such as greeting, going on a trip, and, of course,
shopping. Do people in Asia who believe in Buddhism really appreciate the
spirit of the religious holiday? I do not think so. However, they do like
those in the West do. In addition, people born in different areas seem to
have different destiny. An African boy can hardly have higher achievement
than a normal individual in the U.S., even though the former is far more
brilliant then the latter.
Nonetheless, there are many counterexamples to the statement of the speaker,
showing that we have freedom to choose and be responsible for the decision
regardless how others see it. What revolution means is that one does
something absolutely different from that of the people of his time and drives
the society forward. In the field of business, new ideas and approaches
merges everyday. The purpose of the businessmen is not to conform to the
existing circumstances, but to create what was never thought before. What is
more, by reading autobiography, we know there are many people born in poor
family or countries and finally reached great achievements. One of the most
famous cases will be Wang, the excellent baseball player in MLB.
The way I see it, the society will be a mess if the individual
responsibility does not exist in reality as the speaker claims. People should
be responsible for their behavior only when they can make choices. If there
is no such thing as individual duty, people who commit crimes or cause harms
to the society cannot be blamed. Anyone can claim that he does not make
mistakes out of his own will, but because others made him so. Imagine what it
would be like if a beggar steals bread in the bakery, and when he is caught,
he denies that he should be punished; rather, he argues that it is the
society that should account for his poor status, which forces him to steal.
Similarly, killing and robbing could be reasonable, if individual
responsibility were nothing more than a necessary fiction.
In conclusion, it is acceptable to say that our behavior is partially
effected by forces not of our own making. Since history has shown that people
can choose and account for what they do, to make the society stable, we
should not view the individual duty as merely illusion.
※ 編輯: philJamy 來自: 118.166.248.128 (08/09 12:02)
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