issue 93 (prepare for 207--4)

LSDUID: 157855

93. "The concept of 'individual responsibility' is a necessary fiction. Although societies must hold individuals accountable for their own actions, forces not of their own making largely determine people’s behavior.

For the rapid change of social and culture issues, more and more people find that they are no longer simple creatures but rather social animals. These phenomenons have brought great effects on every one, and in contemporary society, forces not of their own making largely determine people’s behavior.

People’s social statuses, to some extent, determine one's behavior rather than his/her individual responsibility.  Political leaders are good examples. Sometimes, what they do or what they say are not the real reflection of their own idea but the reflection of social needs. So we need to make a clear distinction between 'individual responsibility' and 'social responsibility'. Once I learn that during the period that Chinese suffering from SARS, government force hospitals not to publish the exact number of persons who die of SARS. Why did these governors conceal the number and betrayed the honesty of individual responsibility? I think the reason is that they must hold their social responsibility not to make a larger panic in China. So their actions are not stand for their own but rather derive from the external force.

Similarly, in our daily lives, we can also find that forces not of our own idea largely determine people’s behavior. For example, lawyers, in some situations, they have to defend for some guilty persons. It means that they are helping evil ones while hurt the interests of innocent ones. So, in order to achieve their social duty, someone has to sacrifice his/her own individual responsibility of kindness, honesty, and sincereness. Their actions are more force by the social status and social power. Another case in point is that due to being occupied by one's social work, people always don't fulfill their responsibility to their family. This phenomenon generally occurred to some successful persons. Since they pay all their attention to their work, there is no enough time to take care of other family members and in other words, such person is delinquent for their family responsibility. In fact all of these actions should be considered as that people haven't account for their actions but should be attribute to their social force.

Although I agree that people's behavior are largely determined by social forces, I don't mean that individual responsibility is just a fiction to everyone. It is the fundamental need of social prosperity. Without it there will be more violence and people cannot get any protection at all. Without it, the whole world will be in a great mass, teacher will not care of their students, doctors will not help their patients, and companies will close without the responsibility of their workers.

To sum up, in contemporary society, people should know that their action are largely determined by the force of the whole society, meanwhile, they should realize the basic human responsibility of their own.

个人觉得第一个例子用的不太贴切，不是很有说服力，请大家提提意见，十分感谢！

mack1983UID: 183345

姐姐，请按规矩办事，貌似一人一天只准一篇issue，一篇argument的。
好像在那里看到过，忘了，呵呵

LSDUID: 157855

楼上的，不好意思哈，本人马上就要考了，所以练题心切，没有注意到这样的规矩呢，法律都不应该是rigid的，呵呵，何况是我们呢？

LSDUID: 157855

唉，自己顶一下:p

不怕开水烫的猪UID: 187893

我觉得body1中政治的例子讲的很好，但是非典的例子就显得没有说清楚。况且多数人对中国政府的行为是持否定态度，所以建议重新考虑一下这个例子

body1,2是从政治和日常生活两方面来写的，我感觉这样的分类不是特别好。如果能从工作的性质，周围人的看法，以及社会文化等方面对个人行为的影响来入手，逻辑性可能会更强一些。

body3似乎还需要几句话来解释一下为什么失去个人责任感，会出现动乱。否则，结论显得太突然和武断。

个人意见，仅供参考

LSDUID: 157855

谢谢楼上的，我也觉得非典的例子不是很有说服力，不过你说的‘从工作的性质，周围人的看法，以及社会文化等方面对个人行为的影响来入手’能不能具体点？

不怕开水烫的猪UID: 187893

这道题我也没写过，所以只是瞎说说，比如：

社会政治方面：你的political leader的例子，不知道哥白尼的例子行不行
职业方面：你的律师例子
传统文化方面：我想起了阿拉伯国家对妇女的约束，但不知道怎么写

LSDUID: 157855

谢谢楼上提点

happymichelleUID: 154082

这片我昨天刚好修改过，贴上来看看有没有参考价值

93"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."

Is the concept of "individual responsibility" just a fiction which can hardly be achieved, as the speaker asserts?  I believe the answer is “no”.  Overrating the importance of external forces,  the arguer fails to realize that in the democratic society, people endowed with sense and reason can ultimately determine their actions and behaviors, and therefore should take responsibility to what they act and behave.  Yet, I concede outside factors might have influence on an individual’s behavior to a considerable extent.

The first compelling argument for my disagreement with the speaker is that people can ultimately make decisions for their own actions and behaviors.  Unlike other animals, human beings are able to actively react to what the environment imposes on them, rather than passively accept what the nature give to them.  In the democratic society, especially, people are given more rights and freedom to decide what they would like to do, so far as not against the law.  An apt illustration to this point involves our every day’s experience: when we get up, we make decision of what we wear today, then choose what we eat for breakfast; after we graduate from school, we may choose which job we are going to take or whether we should go aboard for further study; when growing older, we may start to consider to whom we are going to get married; to name just a few.  Consequently, individual's behavior is not determined by the external factors but controlled by individual’s own will and sense.

In addition, it is essential for individuals to embrace the concept of “individual responsibility” to ensure that they should take the responsibility for their own behaviors.  In the social level, since everyone in the society has certain interests conflicting with others’, it is of great importance for individuals to account for their actions, without which a democratic society would become a horrible place full of crime, war and blood.  When it comes to the individual level, if people simply behave at will, neglecting others' rights, their free choices from the democratic society would be virtually deprived.  Understandably, if some people decide to commit a crime, they must pay for what they have done; if you choose to become a doctor, you should at least try to be a responsible doctor.  In short, from the two foregoing reasons mentioned above, I strongly hold the opinion that "individual responsibility", an abstract concept including not only the people's rights to determine, but also obligation to account for people’s decisions, is far from a necessary fiction.

Admittedly, human being, as an social animal, can sometimes under influence from external forces which includes not only moral codes, cultural identification, religious custom from the society, but also individual’s characteristics, life style and habit from the family.  These two kinds of influence manifest themselves in numerous examples: On the social level, for instance, a Chinese adolescent might be far more dependent on his parents than an American counterpart does, because the sense of 'individualism' and the merit of 'independence' are much less emphasized in the eastern culture. And on the family level, it is understandable that a child from a family teeming with quarrels and frays inclines to be impatient, irritable and even behave with violent tendency. In short, humans' behaviors are inextricably influenced by the milieu in which they exist.

In conclusion, I concede the speaker’s opinion has some merit in that human beings are social animals that cannot avoid being affected by the environment they live in.  However, I strongly hold that each individual has the free will to determine how to act and behave.  In the final analysis, people should be accountable for their behaviors, and the concept of “individual responsibility” is undoubtedly indispensable for the existence of a stable and democratic society.

LSDUID: 157855

谢谢！