SECTION A
Essay
125 marks
Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The statement warns that choices rational for one person can harm the community when everyone makes them. The examiner expects a discussion of collective action problems, externalities and the balance between individual liberty and social good, with care not to deny individual rights.
ThesisIndividual and social good usually align, but where personal gain imposes costs on others, institutions and ethics must step in, without crushing the individual freedom on which a healthy society rests.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Economics: externalities such as pollution occur when individuals do not bear the full cost of their actions
- 2Environment: each farmer's or household's rational choice can exhaust shared resources like groundwater
- 3Public health: refusing vaccination or misusing antibiotics may seem personally convenient but endangers everyone
- 4Governance: tax evasion benefits the evader but weakens public services for all
- 5Liberty: a society that always overrides the individual in the name of the collective risks authoritarianism
Counter-view
- Classical liberals argue that individuals pursuing self-interest produce social good through markets. The essay should accept this as often true but show its limits where costs spill over to others
Open and close
- Open: Open with a farmer in Punjab striking a match to his paddy stubble after a long season, a sensible choice for him that adds to the smog in Delhi weeks later
- Close: Close by arguing that the best society aligns personal incentives with public good, so individuals are not forced to choose between them
Where marks usually go
- Arguing that individuals should always sacrifice for society, ignoring rights and liberty
- Missing the word 'necessarily' and writing an absolute claim
- Writing only on environment and ignoring health, economy and ethics
Examples that fit
- ThinkerGarrett Hardin's 'tragedy of the commons' shows how each herder adding cattle to a shared pasture ruins it for all.Garrett Hardin, 'The Tragedy of the Commons', Science (1968)
- CaseBurning paddy stubble is the cheapest option for an individual farmer in Punjab and Haryana, but it worsens winter air pollution across north India.Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas
- ThinkerAdam Smith argued that self-interest can serve the public good through markets, the strongest counterpoint the essay must engage with.Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
- CaseOveruse of antibiotics for quick personal relief fuels antimicrobial resistance, which the WHO lists among the top global public health threats.World Health Organization, Antimicrobial resistance fact sheet