Philosophical Approach For Balancing Issues - Term Paper Example

This essay seeks to answer the question: are there are ways of harmonizing the individual rights whereas defending the public at the same time. As a point of departure, majority argues on when individual rights have been violated, and on similarly complains are raised when protection of the public is contravened. The situation surrounding individual rights and its interconnectedness with the public fabric is a give and take. This implies that, people need to understand that, they will have to sacrifice some degree of privacy for the good of all the members of the society.

Majority of people talk of rights without considering the wider perspective of the meaning of rights (Bjarnason & Carter, 2009). This kind of understanding has changed the society to a catered one, where people tend to think and believe that everything should be given to them and this contrasts, the fundamental aspect of seeking to balance the individual rights with the public interests. Numerous philosophers have argued the need for people to appreciate the fact that, the society is made of people who get affected by erroneous decisions made, without the consideration of balancing the individual desires, rights and the public interests.

This study establishes that the declaration of independence was founded on three fundamental rights: right to life, rights to pursuit of happiness and right to liberty. It is explicitly understood that, the right to life defends the individual’s ability to handle all actions obligatory for the preservation and gratification of life (Bjarnason & Carter, 2009). On the other hand, the right to pursuit to happiness safeguards an individual’s capacity to live for own sake quite than for the societal sake.

Equally, the right to liberty defends an individual’s capacity to reflect and act on his own decision. The question that emerges is “what if individual’s pursuit of these rights violates other people’s rights?” It is the government’s philosophy to safeguard the well-being of its entire populace. For the attainment of balance, a perfect situation may not be a favorable milieu (Snyder, Lopez & Pedrotti, 2011). The truth of the matter is that, individuals will be forced to give up on some rights to provide for a give and take milieu, which is favorable in balancing the societal and individual desires.

It should be noted that, a balance should be compromised in order to create and sustain a peaceful coexistence in the society. A comparison of today’s world complexity and that of the declaration of independence makes it somehow difficult to create a fair environment, where societal needs do not conflict those of individuals. For instance, the issues of terrorism have advanced to become a global concern (Snyder, Lopez & Pedrotti, 2011). Terrorism has become a global threat to security. This starts at the individual point, spreads to a group of individuals, and finally to the society.

Such complex issues affecting the security of all members soothe local and global society compels individuals to forego some critical privileges attributed to individuals’ rights to the governing authority to seek for equilibrium between the individual happiness and insecure society or a secure society and miserable individual lives. In some circumstances, governing authorities may be obligated to monitor phone calls and text messages such that, they can be able to trace terrorists. Despite infringing individual privacy rights, there should be no problem, because the overall intent of such kind of measures is to ensure a safe society for all.

It should be understood that, such steps are undertaken as last resort in curbing such crimes. This is an example of equilibrium that should