Are We Puppets

Valerie Reynolds

Are we all puppets of society? Or do we actually have a hand in determining the course of our lives? What makes us behave the way we do? Are our actions determined by forces beyond our existing control or are we able to choose our actions by free will? These are questions that have been asked time and again by hundreds of thinkers, philosophers, and futhermore , sociologists. The debate of whether an individual has free will or not, is among the oldest problems humans have had to confront with. What is society? This reasoning question must be addressed first. For example, which group of individuals broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, shared institutions, and a common culture. Since we live in a largely globalised world, it would be fair to say that all of us live in a global society. A global society is one that is characterised by increased communications among people of diverse cultures and socio-geographic divisions.

My opinion is that we are all indeed puppets of society. But the truth is that, we, as individuals, make up society. How can we be puppets of something that we create? Can a puppet be a puppeteer all at once? Society is not a thing nor is it an existence. . Every single human thought that has ever been thought, without exception, during the entire history of the human race, has been thought individually, within an individual human mind. Every single human feeling that has ever been felt has been felt individually, within an individual human mind. As all choices, decisions, opinions, depend on the power of thought and feeling, only individual human beings can have or make them. Society cannot, for good or evil.

So what is society, if it is not a 'thing'? The answer is: it is an environment in which we live. If we live surrounded by buildings and streets, we say we live in an urban environment- we live in a city. If we live surrounded by woods and fields, we say we live in...