Last week I agreed with Rebecca about us all being unique individuals.
This is true.
Now we can think of how all these individuals are connected.
What one individual does affects countless other individuals. Think of some examples.
Should we put the uniqueness of an individual first, and that individual's needs, or should we put the general good first?
In other words, should the captain of the Starship Enterprise risk the lives of all his crew to rescue one person stranded on an alien planet?
Myself, I think towards saying yes. It seems more noble, more uplifting, more empathic, more humane. What do you think? Should the one come before the many - or not?
This week (4-10th May) is 'National Honey Week'.
First News newspaper has a feature on bees on its front page. Bees all work together for the common good of their swarm or hive. But bees are dying in their millions. Why? Weather? Pesticide sprays? Mobile phones? What happens if plants don't get pollinated and seeds don't form because bees aren't around? Albert Einstein may have said that without bees, life on this planet would be dead within five years. So things could get a little grim. Maybe the planet as we know it could rather easily do without humans, but getting rid of bees is a different matter altogether.
Lots of ideas for philosophy groups:
'No man is an island.' John Donne
Can 'individualism' become 'thinking of what I want' instead of 'what is good for us all'? What happens to societies when individuals only think of what they want? (Banks collapse? Yes I'd thought of that!)
First News newspaper issue 154
