What's more important; Individual or Collective Responsibility?

Question

Individual Responsibility;
The idea that you act on your own life, and in response to anything that come yours way, because you are the most responsible party for you there is.

Collective responsibility;
The idea that you are acted upon in your own life by society, with society/everyone collectively being the most responsible party for you.

We hear a lot these days about people's individuals rights, and collective groups rights, yet we don't here much in the way of responsibility.
Which type of responsibility is more important, and why?

RolandCuthbert · Accepted Answer

I think the problem is this concept of universality. Most people here are Western so they project their group beliefs universally, just like everyone in every single society on earth would agree or understand their view. I admire Jordan Peterson a lot for his stance on maleness and masculinity. I wholeheartedly agree that if you aspire to be a man, you need to first focus on the basics. Control your environment. Clean your room. Be responsible in your relationships. Do these basic things and you will build an unbreakable foundation from which you can build your own philosophy of life.

But in GaG, this view is just distorted. Because most GaGers put no context around their ideology. In what context does individual responsibility "trump" collective responsibility? Are all Pakistanis responsible for the sex trade, exploitation and rape in the UK? Are all "White" people in American responsible for slavery? Is every German responsible for the Jewish Holocaust? If not, then why does racism exist? Why does discrimination exist? Homophobia, sexism? These are all belief systems that depend on blaming or stereotyping groups of people. So your question really isn't about individualism vs collectivism. In fact, it isn't a question.

It is a statement that you and yours know best when to decide something is collectivist or individualist.

But that is an honest conversation that most here are simply not capable of.

hellionthesagereborn · Accepted Answer

Their is no thing as collective responsibility. If the individual is not responsible then having a million individuals who are not responsible isn't going to get you a collective responsibility. Collective responsibility is nothing more then an attempt to push responsibility off of the individual onto other. If you take the environment for instance (ignoring the fact that its not actually warming at the rates claimed and its not man made), if the individual isn't responsible then what can be done? Nothing. But if the individual is responsible what happens? Well they stop driving their cars, they use less electricity, they live off the grid etc. You'll notice that the people who are "enviromentalists" will do NONE of these things, they will never make the sacrifices on the personal level that they want society to make. Same with welfare, you have all of these people stating how we should have wealth redistribution, yet not one of those people pushing for this are willing to redistribute their own money. They are not willing to step up and try and make a difference. The reason is because they don't actually care, they want to seem like they care while pushing off all responsibility on to others because that means they get the benefits of being perceived as "virtuous" without ever having to sacrifice anything to actually BE virtuous.

The_White_Queen · Accepted Answer

There's no absolute between the two.

CoffeeWC · Answer

Everyone is responsible for themselves. Although they may have influence on others, they can't control them. The best we can do is make sure that we take responsibility for our own actions before trying to tackle bigger responsibilities.

Investigator · Answer

All individuals bear the burden of being responsible for their own actions. However, it would be disingenuous to say that "collective responsibility" is not a thing. In summary, collective responsibility is the totality of the average of all people's attempts (or lack thereof) of individual responsibility, compounded in ways that effect the largest amount of people possible. In other words, collective responsibility occurs or not when large amounts of people are individually responsible or not. If enough Americans decide not to pay taxes or actively take measures to avoid doing so, then both the government and the economy would crash. If all societies everywhere were to do this, then the entire world's infrastructure would fall into chaos.

If how society operates is just a macrocosm of the smaller parts of the collective whole working with or against other parts, and the individual parts are consistently and persistently at war with each other as opposed to working together, then the sum total of the whole machinery of will grind itself to a halt. This is the path we are currently heading towards, both as individual cultures and a species; while this has been the course of man for the better part of our entire existence, if history is any indication of human progress, it is happening more frequently and with more intensity than at any time in the past before now (or, at least, appears to). If negotiation and diplomacy fail often and regularly enough, then the greater whole will fall apart under the weight of its own inability to maintain cohesion. As Abraham Lincoln famously quoted, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

To answer the question more directly and succinctly, since collective responsibility is necessarily a consequence of smaller actions taken at the inter- and intra-personal relationship levels simply extrapolated to the size of entire communities, it follows that individual responsibility is far more important.

SirRexington · Answer

Collective responsibility. The collective impacts the individual directly. Of course the collective is made up of Individuals but we all have a duty not only to ourselves but those around us. Don't want rampant crime? Make sure everyones basic needs are met. Don't want a bunch of sick people? Make sure healthcare i available. Don't want a bunch of angry white men? Don't ignore them and name them out to be the bad guy.

But yeah, collective responsibility is just as important. One individual has little power, but the group does. Every person in the group needs to balance their right to free choice and the realization that we all have consequences for our actions.

RegularTK421 · Answer

If I had to pick one, individual responsibility. Individuals directly contribute to life circumstances surrounding themselves and their communities. Decided to pick up smoking for 20 years? Thanks for being another patient that hospitals and possibly taxpayers have to deal with. Decided to be a drug dealer? Good job slinging poison to junkies, and making communities poorer and more crime ridden. Decided to be a junkie? You're an idiot and worse than the dealer. Unfortunately, individual choices have an affect on the collective.

_SOARER_ · Answer

The individual is part of the collective. The rise of collectivist thinking (Which benefits the weak) is because of women entering politics.
Women have empathy, which can be a destructive force. You allow them to make policy and they will always look after the weak.

Its why women will favor anyone or thing they perceive as weak or needing help. Like immigrants, drug addicts, criminals, blacks etc. All these groups are the "victim/needy class" which women want to help. In reality these groups should be expected to help themselves.

A woman's place is not in politics. Women should have 0 say in the political discourse. Not mention women will not vote for whats right, they will vote for popular opinion every time, or rather perceived popular opinion.

Kurαȷ · Answer

Everyone should possess a healthy sense of personal responsibility, but the reality is that most people do not, which is why collective responsibility is the more reliable alternative in real world scenario.

We have laws, regulations and criminal punishment for the very reason that individual responsibility is not reliable.

InfobotsMom · Answer

Individual responsibility is the foundation for collective responsibility. Without individual responsibility everyone just leaves it to everyone else and nothing gets done.

SomeGuyCalledTom · Answer

Individual responsibility-- by definition-- is a necessary precursor to collective responsibility. Why? Because it takes a group of INDIVIDUALS to come together and decide what the collective responsibilities should even BE to begin with. If you go to a KKK meeting, their version of "collective aims" are very different than those of an anti-war protestors' march on Washington.

Passinggas · Answer

If you don't have individual responsibility you certainly cannot contribute to a perceived collective responsibility and there is no individual trustworthy to guide or direct the collective. Collective irresponsibility is the norm and that provides a vacuum for a dictator to move in and rule. So stick your collective bsht up your Marxist liberal pinko ass.

Shahax · Answer

What's better, 1 strong chain link linked with a hundred other strong links or 10,000 weak links near breaking

grega239 · Answer

Individual.

BCS collective is the reason why feminists blame men for "historic oppression" even thou no man alive today was present in those times.

Or black Americans that keep bringing up reparations for slavery even thou they weren't slaves and the slave owners have been dead for centuries.

Humans by nature are not a collectivist species BCS we don't have a huge mind like ants or bees.

Communism is a collectivist system... I'm pretty sure everyone is aware of how that turned out

genericname85 · Answer

there is no "collective responsibility". individual responsibility accumulates to shared values and shared goals and those we have to foster individually, not collectively. because the collective comes from the individual, not the other way around.

markscott · Answer

Individual responsibility is much more important. Without individual responsibility, there can be no collective responsibility that mean anything.

OddBeMe · Answer

I skipped listening to Peterson’s yammering. Individual responsibility supports collective responsibility. I make money as a business owner, my taxes go to your grandparents healthcare so they can live comfortably.

Anonymous · Answer

The only way to have responsibility at all is for it to be personal.

Collective responsibility means it's always everyone else's fault, and I can't do anything about it. You can't correct what you don't control.

Savage_Wisdom · Answer

I deserve the right to decide for myself the path my life should take.

Liam_Hayden · Answer

Individual. I am not responsible for the actions of others, and the attempt to make me so betrays the Marxist worldview of those attempting it.

Lightning8 · Answer

Perhaps everyone is individually responsible for being collectively responsible, and not superficially shaming others and virtue signaling.

Scarecrow13 · Answer

There's no such thing as collective responsibility, ultimately. Even as a group, every one is responsible for their own actions.

Philyouup · Answer

In truth, a blend of both with be good. Just One or the other neglects all the in between

What's more important; Individual or Collective Responsibility?

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