I argue that government and civil living benefit society because they force citizens to cooperate in various situations, give select citizens the authority to impose laws that prevent anyone from acting uncivilized, and ensure justice, upon criminals. In this essay, I will use a thought experiment to justify the implementation of government.
Consider the following situation: you and a boatload of strangers are shipwrecked on a tropical island, which you think is uninhabited. After a brief inventory check, you see that there is only a small amount of food available. What do you do? I argue that the logical solution is to form a simple, but structured, organization of individuals to lead the group- a government.
Forming a government forces …show more content…
If each person was assigned a role to repair the damaged ship, and someone refused to cooperate, which is not uncommon since most people tend to be selfish, and unable to see where helping others would also help themselves, then the rest of the people could turn to a previously established law, which states that if someone refuses to cooperate, they are subject to punishment “x.” This way, people know that their actions have punishments, and more are likely to follow the laws, which lead to civilized society. Moreover, if someone breaks the law once, the next person to break that same law in an identical fashion can expect identical punishment, no matter who they are. Without a government, many might feel entitled to behave immorally; they might even find it acceptable to hurt, or kill other people since there is nothing/ noone to stop them. In fact, even with government, this same dynamic continues to present itself in our everyday life in the form of trials, juries, and incarcerations/sentences. Naturally the absence of government only exacerbates the problem.
In conclusion, a world without government, would be a dangerous place with never-ending disputes and indecision. Because of our naturally selfish tendencies, we would be strangers to cooperation, and thus, unable to work efficiently on large projects. Our society would devolve into an uncivilized state of chaos, in which everyone acted however
Consider the following situation: you and a boatload of strangers are shipwrecked on a tropical island, which you think is uninhabited. After a brief inventory check, you see that there is only a small amount of food available. What do you do? I argue that the logical solution is to form a simple, but structured, organization of individuals to lead the group- a government.
Forming a government forces …show more content…
If each person was assigned a role to repair the damaged ship, and someone refused to cooperate, which is not uncommon since most people tend to be selfish, and unable to see where helping others would also help themselves, then the rest of the people could turn to a previously established law, which states that if someone refuses to cooperate, they are subject to punishment “x.” This way, people know that their actions have punishments, and more are likely to follow the laws, which lead to civilized society. Moreover, if someone breaks the law once, the next person to break that same law in an identical fashion can expect identical punishment, no matter who they are. Without a government, many might feel entitled to behave immorally; they might even find it acceptable to hurt, or kill other people since there is nothing/ noone to stop them. In fact, even with government, this same dynamic continues to present itself in our everyday life in the form of trials, juries, and incarcerations/sentences. Naturally the absence of government only exacerbates the problem.
In conclusion, a world without government, would be a dangerous place with never-ending disputes and indecision. Because of our naturally selfish tendencies, we would be strangers to cooperation, and thus, unable to work efficiently on large projects. Our society would devolve into an uncivilized state of chaos, in which everyone acted however