Equality, Liberty and the Pursuit of Community in America Page: 5 of 10
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individual, the freedom of the individual to act. The question now looms, how can you
reconcile these two large individual concepts with the idea of the pursuit of community
in America? Is there not an irreconcilable tension? No. The pursuit of community
makes reconciliation possible.
The third idea in the title of this talk, Community, is no more easily defined or
understood than Equality and Liberty. We start with the conventional definition.
Community is "a body of people living in one place or district or country and
considered as a whole." The conventional definition is unsatisfactory because the
word implies so much more. In 1954 Walter Lippman wrote a book entitled, The Public
Philosophy. In it he discussed the ambiguity and multiple meanings of the words, 'the
people,' and quotes Jeremy Bentham as follows: "The Community is a fictitious body,
composed of the individual persons who are considered as constituting as it were, its
members. The interest of the community then is what? The sum of the interests of
the several members who compose it." Lippmann continues, "There is an apparent
toughness and empirical matter-of-factness in this statement. But the hard ice is thin.
For Bentham has forgotten that 'the several members who compose' the community are
never identically the same members from one hour to another. If a community were
what he says it is, then in theory it should be possible to make a directory of its
members, each with his address. But no such list could ever be compiled. While it
was being compiled, new members would be being born and old members would be
dying." The point Lippmann makes is that the composition of community is at no time
static. It is fluid. It is dynamic.
Scott Peck's latest book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, takes
us deep into community and probes its essence until we experience and understand its
meaning. Dr. Peck sets forth what he sees as "the most salient characteristics of a
true community." They are:
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Jordan, Barbara C. Equality, Liberty and the Pursuit of Community in America, text, November 13, 1987; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth595127/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.