Jefferson, Thoreau, Dewey, and Ghandi on the Individual

Throughout out history, there were men who advocated for the rights, existence, self-rule, and obligation of the individual. Some of these people who belonged to the gallery of colorful people and intellectuals were Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, John Dewey, and Mohandas Ghandi. These men possessed different social and political beliefs, but they agree on one thingthe concept that individual has a place in a given society.

Jefferson, one of Americas great founding fathers, was passionate about the rights of the individual in the American society. In fact, the most important document in the United States that he wrote, the Declaration of Independence, enshrines the primacy of the individual over a collective. As a political theorist, Jefferson championed the concept of individual rights, which is the basis of the American Constitution. He believed that the individual has the right to his life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. According to him, the only duty of the government is to protect these rights of the individual. The fundamental basis of Jeffersons political ideology is the philosophy of Aristotle. It was Jefferson who brought Aristotles eudaemonia or happiness to the realm of American politics.

On the other hand, Thoreau argued that every individual has the right to resist government interference in moral resistance to an unjust state. A well-known abolitionist, Thoreau advocated for civil disobedience, which could lead a better government. However, the direction of Thoreaus better government is anarchism, as he believed in a government that governs no one. Thoreau also rejected the concept of taxation, which is a form of governments use of force. The difference between Thoreau and Jefferson is the role of government in mans life. Jefferson believed in a limited government that does not initiate force against its subjects, while Thoreaus individualism favors anarchism.

Ghandi, who learned a great deal from the British occupation, argued for the individual who has the right to self-rule. He believed that every individual could only achieve greatest good under a stateless, classless democracy. This political philosophy is based on the premise that a state is a soulless machine that does not feel compassion for its subjects. Both Ghandi and Thoreau share the same political perspective in regard to the role of a government. Philosophically and politically, Ghandi and Thoreau are anarchists.

For his part, John Dewey argued that the individuals true emancipation requires cultural and political reform. A liberalist, Dewey argued for the harmonization or collectivization of the individual, which can be achieved through solving the problem with culture fueled by private economic gain. In effect, Dewey was advocating for a type of socialism, wherein the government plays a larger role by controlling the industry and other economic areas of the state. If Thoreau argued for better government that is anarchism and Jefferson envisioned a limited government, Dewey advocated for a political system wherein the bureaucrats are given more political and economic powers.

Dewey (358) wrote Human beings are generated only by union of individuals the human infant is so feeble in his powers as to be dependent upon the care and protection of others he cannot grow up without the help given by others his mind is nourished by contact with others and by intercommunication as soon as the individual graduates from family life he finds himself taken into other associations, neighborhood, school, village, professional, or business associates. Apart from the ties that bind him to others, he is nothing. This liberal statement is at best an expression of collectivism. It means that an individual, who is part and parcel of the populace, has no choice but to subsume himself into a collective or a society. The main point of this quotation is that man is a determined being who must subordinate his will and rights to a society. I do not agree with Dewey because I believe that man must exist for himself and must not sacrifice his rights and life to others. In my opinion, this quotation has shades of Marxism, as it implies the primacy of society, which has no soil or conscience, over the individual, which should be the standard of value in any given society.

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