ABSTRACT
Ever since humanity developed the capacity to think, the relation between the individual and the society has occupied the minds of philosophers. In every society where rules are formulated, the rights of the individual must be related to the rights of the society. Logically, these rights are in a state of opposition; the more rights the individual has, the smaller the sphere of rights confined to the society and vice versa. Since the list of authors that throughout the centuries have pondered upon the relation between the individual and the society is impressive (Rousseau 1900; Locke 1967; Rawls 1971; Mill 1972; Nozick 1974; Aristotle 1991, to name but a few), it is of course an understatement to say that the literature that covers the field is abundant. With all the evidence at hand it is fair to ask what we have learnt about this relation. The answer is, unfortunately, not much. All the works cited above have left us with very few clues to the best way to arrange the relation between the individual and the state. When it comes to it, ideas of the “best” society ensue from the personal opinions of the authors.
