Society

How to define a good society?

“A society is good that fosters the full development of human potentials, to the fullest degree of humanness.”

I do believe that statement is far too inclusive. Understanding that “the line between good and evil runs down the center of every human heart”, to achieve the full development of human potentials would be to develop in the people of the society the full depth of human evil. Not something that is beneficial the society, the individual or the race as a whole.

Perhaps we should amend that statement as follows:

“A society is good that fosters the full development of human potentials in alignment with a moral structure that benefits the individual and the society, to the fullest degree of humanness.”

The above statement is much more acceptable to me even though it still has a degree of ambiguity. But that ambiguity is of design, not ignorance. As humans grow and evolve, so should their moral set. To facilitate the applicability of the statement over time, a bit of ambiguity is needed.

This ambiguity also serves the necessity for thought. Simply being told what to do is of very little use. (”Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.”) But a person who thinks and reasons about various topics gains much more than just knowledge about what he is thinking over. (”Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.”)

The revised statement facilitates the need for each individual to not only figure out for themselves what moral actions constitute “good” and “bad”, but also envision what could be “better” or “worse.” Not only for us, but for our society (from which we gain so much), and for future generations.

We must always remember that we gain so much from our society, and that society is only here because previous generations worked hard to make it for us. I challenge you to find one thing in your life that is not facilitated by being in a large society, and compare that to the number of things in your life that only possible because of being part of a large society. In such a light, we should keep asking ourselves “How can I make society better for this and future generations?”