People's behavior is largely determined by forces not of their own making

人们的行为多是被外界力量所左右，难以被自己控制。

可供参考老题库93The concept of 'individual responsibility' is a necessary fiction. Although societies must hold individuals accountable for their own actions, people's behavior is largely determined by forces not of their own making.

个人责任的概念是一种很必要的虚构。尽管社会必须让个人对他们自己的行为负责，但是人们的行为很大程度上不是自己能够左右的。

1. The claim that individual responsibility is a necessary fictions has some merit in that a society where individuals are not held accountable for their actions and choices is a lawless one, devoid of any order whatsoever.

2. A correlative argument for individual responsibility involves the fact that lawless, or anarchist, states give way to despotic rule by strong individuals who seize power.

3. As for the speaker's second claim, it flies in the face of our everyday experiences in making choices and decisions.

[BEGIN:] The speaker asserts that the individual responsibility in the modern world is just a necessarily fictional concept because it is always determined by the outside factors not human beings own behaviors. I agree that ensuring all the individuals to account for their own actions is very important, while it is unwarranted and ridiculous to regard the concept of 'individual responsibility' as a fiction. Besides, unduly emphasizing the role of environments in the performing of human actions may eventually threaten the stability and interest of the society.

1、 个人责任源自于人类文明的发展和理性选择
First of all, individual responsibility is an item that essentially stems from a rational choice through people's intellectual selection and deliberate consideration in the evolution of human civilization. Some of the detractors may argue that before the technology have become advanced enough to defend other savage beasts, it is the environment not our ancestors' efforts to determine the human behaviors. I concede that in the early stage of human evolution, struggling against other animals served as the primary actions in the people's daily lives. However, even under this circumstance, human beings, unlike the other beasts, have progressively introduced a set of values and principles into the human community for the sake of maintaining and developing the early form of society and also restricting some kinds of human behavior. Therefore, people's behaviors, even in the ancient time, are formed by their own experience and reflection rather than the forces from outside. With the evolution of human world, much more progress has been achieved and many of the wildernesses have been rendered with the human colors and edifice. The concept of 'individual responsibility' appeared much more manifest in the human world.

2、 个人责任作为一个实实在在的概念，是人类社会维系其根本价值观念和持续发展的根本原因之一
In the modern world, the individual responsibility is serving as a substantial and necessary concept that used to constrain the human behaviors and assure the interest of others. For one thing, modern people began to realize that only making all the individuals naturally thinks they must accountable for their own actions can their have private interest preserved and the whole society takes its steps towards the thriving future. That is why people today seems more willing to collecting and investigating all sorts of information before they take any actions, and the outside force also become much less of a crucial element in making any decisions. Conversely, the practical experiences also make many people realize that the neglecting of the individual responsibility may ultimately plunge the human world into a state of chaos. Some detractors might states that people nowadays have to obey the law and in many cases, the force of legislation in some sense conduct the human behavior and human beings can not determine their own actions. In this circumstance, ostensibly, common people have no rights to determine their actions or other behaviors. While, underneath the surface, human beings also are the dominators of their own actions. On the one hand, most of the ethical and moral values are formed by our ancestors' experience and rational reflection as the results of accumulation, so, it also rooted in the spheres of the human decision. On the other hand, the laws are after all limited a relatively narrow range of human behaviors, and outside these forbidden regions, the elements of human race also serve as the dominant role.

3、 个人责任的范畴是随着时代发展的，而不是一成不变的
As discussed above, the individual responsibility is established in the evolution of human world, and in some sense is a continuing process. In other words, the concept of the individual responsibility is not a constant item but to be verified and advanced in the development of human society. For example, in the ancient age, the dominators have nothing worry about to responsible for most of their illegal behaviors, such as killing the civilians. While this is not the case in the modern world, every one knows that such kind of behavior may throw them into the prisons. This trend will continue in the future development of human society.

[END:] In sum, from the long time evolution of human civilization, the concept of individual responsibility has been formed and served as the important foundation for the entire society on which it is rest. Therefore, the basic regulation that all the individuals must accountable for their own actions is not a fictional action but a fundamental principle of human world.

范文：

I fundamentally agree with the speaker's first contention, for unless we embrace the concept of "individual responsibility" our notions of moral accountability and human equality, both crucial to the survival of any democratic society, will whither. However, I strongly disagree with the second contention--that our individual actions are determined largely by external forces. Although this claim is not entirely without support, it runs contrary to common sense and everyday human experience.

The primary reason that individual responsibility is a necessary fiction is that a society where individuals are not held accountable for their actions and choices is a lawless one, devoid of any order whatsoever. Admittedly, under some circumstances a society of laws should carve out exceptions to the rule of individual responsibility--for example, for the hopeless psychotic who has no control over his or her thoughts or actions. Yet to extend forgiveness much further would be to endanger the social order upon which any civil and democratic society depends.

A correlative argument for individual responsibility involves the fact that lawless, or anarchist, states give way to despotic rule by strong individuals who seize power. History informs us that monarchs and dictators often justify their authority by claiming that they are preordained to assume it--and that as a result they are not morally responsible for their oppressive actions. Thus, any person abhorring despotism must embrace the concept of individual responsibility.

As for the speaker's second claim, it flies in the face of our everyday experiences in making choices and decisions. Although people often claim that life's circumstances have "forced" them to take certain actions, we all have an infinite number of choices; it's just that many of our choices are unappealing, even self-defeating. Thus, the complete absence of free WIU would seem to be possible only in the case of severe psychosis, coma, or death.

Admittedly, the speaker's second contention finds support from "strict determinist" philosophers, who maintain that every event, including human actions and choices, is physically necessary, given the laws of nature. Recent advances in molecular biology and genetics lend some credence to this position, by suggesting that these determining physical forces include our own individual genetic makeup. But, the notion of scientific determinism opens the door for genetic engineering, which might threaten equality in socioeconomic opportunity, and even precipitate the development of a "master race." Besides, since neither free will nor determinism has been proven to be the correct position, the former is to be preferred by any humanist and in any democratic society.

In sum, without the notion of individual responsibility a civilized, democratic society would soon devolve into an anarchist state, vulnerable to despotic rule. Yet, this notion is more than a mere fiction. The idea that our actions spring primarily from our free will accords with common sense and everyday experience. I concede that science might eventually vindicate the speaker and show that our actions are largely determined by forces beyond our conscious control. Until that time, however, I'll trust my intuition that we humans should be, and in fact are, responsible for our own choices and actions.

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