A Point of View © 1996
By Paul V. Montesino, PhD., MBA. ICCP
Aristotle said “Man is by nature a Social Animal.” His definition means that humans are suited by nature to live in a polis, or what Greeks called city, in other words, community. We are always by nature gregarious, seeking each other, helping each other, even competing with each other. There is also another well-known African expression “It takes a village to raise a child” which means we are all responsible for nurturing the new generations.
According to certain social biologists and linguists, a person has to go through a curious process of social contact and consciousness about others before developing a sense of self. At the beginning of human life on this planet, we roamed earth and meeting others awoke our curiosity or fear, but we couldn’t figure out that those others were individuals who had selves that were different from our own.
There’s an interesting story I heard many years ago that brings that reality home. As it happened, there were two brothers living in the forest always playing with each other, foraging and eating, each quite aware of the other but not of themselves. One day, there was a typical summer rain shower that created deep puddles. One of the brothers, attracted by a large puddle nearby approached it with curiosity. To his surprise and shock, he saw his image reflection mirrored on the puddle and not knowing who or what it was he ran screaming towards his sibling. The latter, alarmed by the reaction of his brother, decided to approach the puddle to find the reasons for that fear. As soon as he looked into the puddle, his own image was also reflected and he, too, ran away yelling.
Fortunately for both, they decided to join forces to approach the puddle together and, the moment they reached it, they realized that each other’s images were reflected and recognized each image as a separate individual and were able to identify themselves as well. “Oh, if that face is yours, the other must be mine,” was the reasoning of the boys. From that point on, they had not only a notion of others but also of them, It was not only about a you, but also about an I. In order to see ourselves, who we are, we need to see others; we need the presence and help of those others.
This social basis was brought up later on our historical development by no other than Rousseau, yes Jean-Jacques; an infamous member of the Jacobin Club during the French Revolution. The Jacobins became the most influential political club during the French Revolution of 1789. The period of their political ascendancy included the Reign of Terror, during which over ten thousand people were put on trial and executed in France, many for political crimes. Rousseau was the main force beyond the notion of the Social Contract.
The Social Contract was an implicit, not an explicit, agreement existing among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection. In other words, you are free up to the moment when you start affecting my freedom. We have social boundaries so to speak. Theories of a social contract became popular in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries among theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and, as we said, Jean-Jacques Rousseau as a means of explaining the origin of government and the obligations of subjects, although there are still some libertarians who oppose the concept.
No man is an island, we know that statement instinctively. Look at yourself, look at me. We depend on others to live and prosper, and political systems are established to determine the rules that control that dependence.
And in the middle of that social paradigm in the 21st century comes a virulent pandemic episode that forces us to be… anti-social. It is said that Justice is blind, and the virus has demonstrated that so is Injustice. We protect ourselves, we complain, we lament, we are not supposed to be anti-social but, are we? When was the last time we ignored the sad look in the eyes of a homeless who extends a hand asking for help? When was the last time we thought about the hungry, the abused, not as a generality, but as a human who needs us to stay socially close? Is this social distance a temporary stage or is it a way to describe who we really are, how we really behave? Who are we kidding, ourselves? Stay socially aware.
And that’s my point of view today.
