Good Afternoon Please have a seat and take

Good Afternoon Please have a seat and take out your work from this week.

Collectivism • Collectivism is any philosophic, political, religious, economic, or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human being in a society or civilization. • Collectivism is a basic cultural element that exists as the reverse of individualism in human nature. • Collectivist orientations stress the importance of cohesion within social groups and in some cases, the priority of group goals over individual goals. • Collectivists often focus on community, society, nation or country. • It has been used as an element in many different and diverse types of government and political, economic and educational philosophies throughout history and most human societies in practice contain elements of both individualism and collectivism. • Some examples of collectivist cultures include Portugal, India, and Japan.

Individualism • Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that emphasizes "the moral worth of the individual". • Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing external interference upon one's own interests by society or institutions such as the government. • Individualism makes the individual its focus and so starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation. " • It has also been used as a term denoting "The quality of being an individual; individuality“ related to possessing "An individual characteristic; a quirk. " • Individualism is thus also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there is a tendency towards self-creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors as so also with humanist philosophical positions and ethics.

• • • Excerpt from Individualism vs. collectivism is a false choice Anne Michaud Long Island Newsday November 6, 2012 In "The Social Conquest of Earth, " published earlier this year, naturalist Edward O. Wilson argues that humans evolved as we did precisely because we have strains of both individualism and collectivism. Wilson, who has spent years studying ant colonies, updates the idea that the fittest individuals survive. In fact, groups in which individuals sacrifice for the good of the collective have, over millions of years, won out. "Selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals, " Wilson writes, "while groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals. " Groups that are willing to share, to withhold individual rewards in order to further the growth of the collective, emerged from the evolutionary contest to become modern humans. But we've retained characteristics of both, Wilson says. We are forever stuck in between selfishness and generosity. If we were all-out collectivists, we would cooperate robotically, like ants. As extreme individualists, humans wouldn't have formed societies where we specialize in healing, finding food and building shelters. It's that tension of being stuck in between that played out in the presidential election -- and will continue to bedevil us. What's the right place on the spectrum? Does it change after a hurricane? Individualists say that when people are free to act in their own self-interest, society benefits. This philosophy promotes hard work and worries about creeping totalitarianism. Collectivists point out the many things we accomplish together that we wouldn't do singly -efforts that spread the cost over many people and even many generations: medicine, the university system, roads and airports, our judicial system, arming a military, fighting fires. People who hold the collectivist view fear that job creators want an excuse for greed and special tax treatment.

Good Morning • Please have a seat and get your binder ready to be tested. • The SHAKE TEST will be enforced today!!! • No loose papers

Debate question • Should High Schools require College admission in order to graduate? (you don’t have to go to college just be accepted into a college in order to graduate) • Make a stand yes or no • Come up with 3 arguments why or why not.

Philosophical Chairs Rules of Engagement 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Read the material for the debate and the opening statement carefully; be sure you understand it Listen to the person who is speaking Understand the person’s point of view Contribute your own thoughts, offering your reasons as succinctly as possible Respond to statements only, not to the personality of the person giving it Change your mind about the statement as new information or reasoning is presented Move to the opposite side or to the undecided chairs as your thinking grows and changes Support the Mediator in maintaining order and helping the discussion to progress Reflect on the experience via the closing activity or assignment