Influential PhilosophersThomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, and considered one of the founders of political philosophy. His vision of the world is original and still relevant to say the least. His main concern was how human can live together peacefully and avoid the danger of civil contact. He believed that a man should be protected by himself, through the state. Hobbes believes that people are evil. He believes that the government needs to be solely based on power and to protect individuals from themselves. Hobbes believes that people don't need to be represented by a ruler, as long as the government does their duty to protect individuals. "John Locke defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. He argued that people have rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, that have a foundation independent of the laws of any particular society. Locke used the claim that men are naturally free and equal as part of the justification for understanding legitimate political government as the result of a social contract where people in the state of nature conditionally transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better ensure the stable, comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property. Since governments exist by the consent of the people in order to protect the rights of the people and promote the public good, governments that fail to do so can be resisted and replaced with new governments." Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher that believed that people are genuinely good and society is what corrupted them. He opposed to the idea of having elected democratic representatives. Instead he thought individuals should actively participate in a direct democracy. “To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man. I personally mainly agree with John Locke. All individuals are born with rights and freedoms. All individuals have the right to have rights. But we also do need government to promote the public good and protect our rights. Also to have a set of "rules" to follow I guess. Even though it can be annoying, if there wasn't a planned out society, it wouldn't be functional. Albert Einstein, “An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man,” from This I Believe (essay collection)". . . it is glaringly apparent that mankind finds itself at present in grave danger. I see the nature of the current crises in the juxtaposition of the individual to society. The individual feels more than ever dependent on society, but he feels this dependence not in the positive sense—cradled, connected as part of an organic. He sees it as a threat to his natural rights and even his economic existence...that which drives his ego is encouraged and developed, and that which would drive him toward other men (a weak impulse to begin with) is left to atrophy. It is my belief that there is only one way to eliminate these evils, namely, the establishment of a planned economy coupled with an education geared towards social goals. Alongside the development of individual abilities, the education of the individual aspires to revive an ideal that is geared towards the service of our fellow man, and that needs to take the place of the glorification of power and outer success. " This is an excerpt from Albert Einstein’s “An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man” essay collection. Within the excerpt there’s powerful connotations to the words crises, cradled, connected and development. These message of the excerpt is that the have a successful and prosperous society we need to have a collective goal oriented society. Einstein was a collectivist. Einstein states “The establishment of a planned economy coupled with an education geared towards social goals”, which portrays Einstein's view towards collectivism. Similar to individualism, collectivism isn’t one ideology. It’s actually many different ideologies that are solely based off of collectivist ideas. Except all of them stress the importance of human interdependence and the importance of having a collective, rather than importance of an individual. Collectivism focuses on goals as a group or society rather than individual goals, but with collectivism also comes collective responsibility. Personally I'm a collectivist. I believe that human interdependence is important and changes in the way society functions can be important. I'm actually a Socialism Liberalist, which I recently found out by taking a quiz during social class. Before I took this quiz, I had no idea, I knew I was somewhere in the middle though, and I am. Health Care: Private or Public?Canada has provided public health care for quite some time now. It does have benefits, but there’s also a lot of non-beneficial aspects to the system. With public health care comes long waiting room times, long surgery wait-lists and possibly not the best care. Most doctors believe that after a couple decades, the medical system has not gotten any better. In fact it has gotten worse. Many doctors similar to have witnessed their patients in need of medically necessary surgeries, but suffering due to the long waiting lists for surgeries. Dr. Brian Day believes that having at least sixty private health sectors is essential in the province of B.C. Day stated that these public restrictions prohibit patients from seeking the best care possible, thereby violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I agree with Dr. Day. There should be quite a few private health care options for those who can afford it and for those who want faster care. But there should be mainly public health care for youth, those who can't afford taking the private health care route, and those who are okay with the wait.
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June 2019
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