What is Society

What Exactly Is Society?

A philosophical thesis by Matthew Bissonnette

In nature, lifeforms employ two different strategies for survival by either being solitary or having the ability to work collectively in groups. If the current prevailing theory of humanities past is correct, then our distance ancestors had to work together in groups to survive in a harsh and sometimes pitiless environment. From the beginning mankind tended to live in small tribal societies which where hierarchical, and different labors of these early groups divided amongst them. One man can do a little, but two can do more and this geometric progression signifies humanities rise to the position as the most powerful species on Earth is related to its ability to organize into large groups and work collectively towards the same goal. Though possibly every individuals perception of the society around them is individualistic, all most most can concede that we all are a part of a society which comes with both rights and obligations. Rights as in which activities are protected by law such as freedom of speech and obligations such as unlawful behavior will be punished. Though in some aspects the pursuit of self interest or primarily your own goals is natural, when pursuit of those goals becomes a detriment to society as a whole it then should be viewed as problematic. Though such a comparison may be in poor taste since it trivializes many of the realities of life, society could be compared to an engine; something that has many different components that alone don't do much but together achieve something; and a motor is poorly designed if one component works against the goal of its design. Different factors have led to what some claim is a world view where individuals see themselves as alone; yet such a view neglects that the society of which he is a part only functions because of the collective efforts of countless people so that humanity would not function if we where actually alone. Some thought should be given to what we perceive society to be and our place in it.