The society does not exist as a physical
entity. What we refer to as society in colloquial terms is merely an abstract
concept to denote the relationships between individual human beings. The school
where I study is a society of students. The cafe where I go to drink coffee is
a society as well, but the society within the cafe is only a relationship
between all its constituents. It cannot think or feel anything for itself. As
such, this relationship cannot assume responsibility, nor can it be held accountable
for any initiative or project. Only an individual person can bear
responsibility, and because the society is only an aggregate of individuals, it
cannot possibly possess the capacity for thought or responsibility. A
collective brain is an imbecile concept. All that has ever existed are
individual minds and persons. If one addresses society as a whole without
regard for those individual persons that compose it, they cannot be taken
seriously.
For
instance, when a politician says that drugs must be eliminated for the good of
society, they are simply trying to impose their personal preferences upon
individuals, and they are doing so under the guise of helping society. However,
as society is no physical entity, it cannot be benefitted. Sure, many
individuals may benefit from the elimination of drugs in our culture, but there
will be those who do not. Thus, nobody can truly speak on behalf of society as
a whole because every individual has entirely different dispositions that may
not be accounted for.
When
idealists and politicians clamour about how we as a society owe an obligation
to some special interest, their argument is flawed at its very premise. Every
person has different tastes and interests. It would thus be immoral to impose
some particular interest on the whole of society’s shoulders under the guise of
a universal responsibility to said interest.
