rgvdh (02/24/83)
Yes, some versions of socialist theory (and practice) are interested in what the individual owes society, but not at all in the rights of the individual. On the other hand, quite a few (though certainly not all) of the people who call themselves libertarians (notably the people who publish Ergo at M.I.T.) spend all their time worrying about the rights of the individual and deny that the individual has any responsibility to society as a whole. While I have no philosophical basis for this assertion, just a gut feeling, I believe that people have a responsibility to put as much useful work into society as was put into their education and raising. On the other hand, it is not at all obvious that the government should get to define "useful" (all too frequently in a manner convenient to private interests). And I am not convinced that human nature is such that fear of punishment or unemployment is required to make people do this work (though it would take a culture rather different from ours). I consider both "socialism", defined as a demand that people contribute to society, and that those incapable of taking care of themselves be provided for, and "libertarianism", defined as the demand that people be allowed to do what they want to do, to be principles that are both useful to keep in mind when thinking about specific issues, but which are bound to lead to disaster if followed to extremes. Absolutes don't work well in the real world.