Why should we live rightly by considering both the good of the community and the good of the individual?

Individual interests and community interests are closely linked, and living right can fulfill both. Situations like group activities show that working together can lead to better outcomes for everyone.

 

Every moment of our lives we are faced with choices, sometimes we make choices that are in our own best interest, regardless of others, and sometimes we make conscientious choices, even if it costs us something. In the midst of these myriad choices, is there a reason to take the risk and make the right choice, that is, to live right?
Of course, there is no single definition of righteousness. However, for the sake of this article, let’s define righteousness as abiding by the norms set by society. Conscience is learned, and we are taught from a young age to follow certain norms, so the right thing to do is to follow a learned conscience.
If following your conscience doesn’t conflict with your personal interests, you should act accordingly. However, as mentioned earlier, there are times when we have to choose between following our conscience and doing the right thing and our personal interests. A prime example is group activities. Group activities, which are unavoidable as a student, also require a major choice. Of course, group activities are based on the premise that everyone should cooperate, so it’s right to follow the norms and cooperate. However, group work is usually hard work, and it’s in your personal interest to avoid it if you can, i.e., to do nothing and get a grade.
Let’s assume that the process of group work consists only of cooperation and free riding, and that the outcome is determined by good or bad grades. Usually, the grade for a group activity is determined by the group’s output alone, so even if I take a free ride, I get the same grade as everyone else. By choosing to cooperate, you’re following your conscience, and by choosing to cheat, you’re doing what’s in your best interest. Obviously, if you only consider your own self-interest, cooperating is the sweeter option.
But what about from the perspective of the group: if a few members of the group choose to get a free ride, the others who follow their conscience and choose to cooperate have to work several times as hard. Obviously, it’s much more efficient, and the results will be better, if everyone cooperates.
In this situation, why would anyone choose the group’s interest over their own? The answer is that the group’s interest is in your own interest. If Joe’s output is good, my grade is good. If I don’t follow the norms and take a free ride, and all the other members take a free ride, thinking only of their own interests, the group will no longer be maintained, no output will be produced, and my performance will be poor. At first glance, it may seem that free riding is in the interest of the individual, but it is actually in my interest to keep the group together.
This applies from a collective, long-term perspective. From a very personal, short-term perspective, it’s easy to think that free riding is in your best interest, as mentioned earlier. In the absence of any sanctions, people will usually choose the immediate benefit, so we need to have a system in place to discourage free riding. The incentive to free ride is that in the typical way of grading based on the output of a group, those who cooperate and those who don’t get the same grade.
As a result, grading individuals differently based on their level of cooperation with the group is a good way to discourage free riding. In other words, people should write a report on their research and contributions to the group’s output, and then grade themselves based on that. Then, even if the group’s output is good, individuals who don’t cooperate won’t be able to write reports and won’t get good grades. To prevent this from happening, group members will cooperate, and if everyone cooperates, the group’s output will be better, so everyone will get better results.
Of course, this method is a bit coercive and may not be in line with the idea of group work, which is about voluntarily working together to create a single product. However, it’s much fairer that students who don’t work hard don’t get a good result, and if everyone works hard, even if forced, the group will learn to cooperate and collaborate. So even if some people are forced to cooperate because they don’t want to get a low grade, it’s still better than if everyone who didn’t work hard got the same grade.
To summarize, groups are basically a way to get the best work done and get a good grade if everyone cooperates. The key to the best group work is cooperation. If we all live right, that is, if we follow the rules, we can live in a situation that is best for everyone. If I work in a group with the rule that everyone else cooperates, including me, I can be sure that the group will turn out well as long as I do my part.
The same story applies to society as a whole. We need to live right for the good of the community and for the good of the individual. For example, if I stand in line at the bus stop, I am guaranteed that others will also stand in line and I will be able to get on the bus in my turn. In this way, we can maintain community and live together.
Of course, it would be nice if people would voluntarily follow the rules to maintain the community, but if there are no sanctions, people will follow their immediate interests. Therefore, society forces people to live right. It teaches morals from a young age, makes laws, and punishes people for breaking them. As a result, most of us now live by our conscience and obey the laws we’ve been given. We keep quiet in the library and don’t litter the streets. We don’t steal money, and we don’t hit people, even to avoid punishment under the law. Society has created a community for us to live together by teaching us conscience and punishing us for breaking the law. And we have been able to maintain this community so far because we have been living up to the norms that society has created. That’s why we can go to the library to study quietly, and why we don’t have to worry about who will steal our money.
Sure, it may seem like it’s more beneficial to me to cut in line, or to get a free ride when everyone is cooperating. But if you’re cutting in line and getting a free ride, others will soon follow suit, and the community becomes untenable. The next time I get on the bus, the people behind me may have cut in front of me and I won’t be able to get on the bus even though I was first. If I take a free ride in a group activity, others will feel free to do the same, and the group’s results will suffer. If it becomes the norm for some members of the group to take a free ride in a group activity, I may have to take a group activity in a subject that is important to me alone in the future. Therefore, if we follow the rules and live right, we can maintain the community and benefit ourselves in the long run. Only when the community is maintained can the individual live well.
In conclusion, we have a reason to live with people and live rightly by following the rules. Only by living rightly, that is, by adhering to certain norms, can we maintain the community, which in turn benefits the individual. Similarly, in group activities, you should cooperate rather than free-riding in order to maintain the group, improve the group’s results, and ultimately improve your own performance. Free riders are those who follow the interests in front of them, so sanctions can be applied to penalize them with individual grades to make them cooperate. The maintenance of a community and the right living of its members are inseparable, and we, as members, must live rightly for the sake of society and for our own good.