Individualism vs collectivism

[fantasy_forever]

Which one is better and why?

 

[Robert_Sock]

Individualism results in too many conflicts. Everybody wants their own individuality these days, but collectivism, done correctly, promotes spiritual LOVE and cooperation.

 

[zro_x]

interesting you chould post this… C.S. Lewis focuses specifically on this very subject when he claims that most of the time, the christian path is one of balance. Keep in mind that when he speaks of totalitarianism, he is talking about collectivism.

Christianity thinks of human individuals not as mere members of a group or items in a list, but as organs in a body…If you forget that he belongs to the same organism as yourself you will become an Individualist. If you forget that he is a different organ from you, if you want to suppress differences and make people all alike, you will become a Totalitarian. But a Christian must not be either a Totalitarian or an Individualist.

I feel a strong desire to tell you—and I expect you feel a strong desire to tell me—which of these two errors is the worse. That is the devil getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs—pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one.

 

[PaulinePresbytr]

Which one is better and why?

That depends how you define them. If by individualism you mean the liberty to reap the fruits of one’s own labor and by collectivism you mean Marxism, then individualism; if by individualism you mean radical secularism and anti-clericalism and by collectivism you mean a uniform liturgy and obedience to God, then collectivism.

 

[mikeeh]

Individualism. Collectivism only works if the society is homogeneous, same language, same culture, same religion, etc. A collective society only favors the collective majority, and if that’s not Catholicism then we’re out of luck.

 

[abucs]

Agree with Pauline. These terms are difficult to have general agreement about.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

The perfect fusion of individualism and collectivism:

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”