It's both and neither. There shouldn't be a conflict between community and individual liberty. If individual liberty is destructive of society, then it's not legitimate. This is because one can only enjoy liberties insomuch as society makes it possible through economy, social support, education, culture, etc. If you want to go live like a bear in the forest, then by all means, but even then you are not starting fresh, having received the one of the best educations any humans in history ever received. If you can't figure out how to build some shelter, you can just look up the information online. This is all society. Without society, you have no language, no culture, not even the capacity to think in terms of liberties.Zlaxer wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:58 pmheydaralon wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:30 pmHow individual are we going here? You were probably raised by at least one parent right? Outside the family, you probably had friends whose parents watched you when you visited. You might have had teachers that helped you with your work, and steered you toward a career or hobby that you were interested in. If you played sports, your team mates and coach probably had a large influence on your life. Many people on here went to church, and the churchgoers often help each other out when shit gets tough. Is that not a "village" of sorts? If it isn't, then why would you describe the distant government as a village, but not the people in your local life?
To determine individualism vs collectivism, this question is poorly phrased.
Even leaving out governments for a second, markets are also a sort of collectivist enterprise. The collective decisions of people determine how much they pay, how much they can sell for, where they can live, and their wants and desires.
We're talking as a fundamental as a idealistic target....do you believe the interests of the community, as a whole, supersede, in most cases, the interests of individual liberty.
False dichotomy.