Saanams Mind

‘Society exists only as a mental concept, in the real world there are only individuals’
- Oscar Wilde

I came across this quote today and couldn’t help but think does a ‘society’ really exist? What is really right? What’s wrong? Who decides that? We, as humans are so caught up with what our society thinks that we forget we are also individuals.

From what I’ve always heard, Right is something which is said to be ‘socially correct’. Some others may define right as something that is in conformance with the law and the order of the land. Right has come to be believed as something that the society deems correct, the society agrees with and that with which the societal values coincide. So in short it is thus safe to come to the conclusion that right is something that is accepted by the society and thus can be said to be morally, ethically and socially right. I will come to the part about society in a bit.

Wrong is something which is not in accord with established code of conduct. I think I can also safely say that something that is contrary to the conscience or morality of law. Wrong in simpler words is the exact opposite of right. Here we take wrong in a negative connotation. Now one question that crops up in my mind and I am sure in each of our minds is that when we say a particular thing is ‘right’ while the other is ‘wrong’, why do we say that? Who determines this? Who distinguishes them and why do we take things as acceptable and unacceptable? What makes the human psyche think in such a manner and how ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ really are the things?

Most say it is the society that decides but then comes my above point, who is this ‘society’ and how does it decide? Why does the so called ‘society’, assuming such a body exists, decide and differentiate between these things?

I’ve taken sociology in school and am currently taking in college. From what I’ve learned, ‘Society’ is said to be a group of individuals that are primarily characterized by common interests, needs and goals. It is also said to be a totality of all human relationships and organizations. If we take this to be true then it is safe to assume that every living being would be a part of society per se and hence be involved in the decision making process of right and wrong, no? However this is not so since objectively speaking, no individual would do something he himself has christened as wrong. Assuming such a society does decide the right and wrong, what I want to know now is that on what basis is the punishment decided for committing a wrong?

Many times I’ve heard people around me say that humans are born with an innate sense of moral responsibility and a sense of justice, a sense of right and wrong. So..does that mean that some people are more fortunate than others in this gift and thus some go on the ‘right path’ and some on the ‘wrong path’? But then many times what is considered right in some parts/places of the world is considered wrong in the others. What is the reason for that? Does this sense we possess differ so much? Why is say for example abortion or mercy killing legal or ‘right’ in some countries while illegal or ‘wrong’ in the others? (With that said, consider that without thinking about the role that religion plays in my example!)

Many also say that it is the society we live in that grooms us, teaches us and influences our decisions of right and wrong. If that is so does this merely increase our innate sense and give it meaning or does it over write what we were supposed to be born with?

I just want to know is there even a society that exists or is it a fragment of our imagination, something we can blame our faults upon? Does there exist this amalgamation of bodies, of humans, of organizations that decides or is instrumental in the way we think and analyze or are we our own people, merely individuals, who decide for ourselves?

I’ve always believed and practiced that each individual makes their own decisions. I don’t believe in letting the society make decisions for me or influence me to think about what they consider to be ‘Right’ is indeed right. Maybe I’m wrong…but according who? I can honestly say that half the time, I don’t agree with anything our so-called society has to say about anything. I don’t agree with the “dos and donts” of the society. Does that make me a sinner? Does that make me a bad person? Does that mean that society shouldn’t accept me as a human? Or does it sincerely means that I believe in making my own choices and learn from them?