There are many speculations regarding the nature of the State and the relation between the State and the individual. Six important theories deserve special mention. The first is the monistic theory.
The advocates of the monistic theory argue that individuals who compose the State have no independent existence “but are mere automatic units in the whole mass, each dependent on the other and upon the whole for its continued existence.”
They have no independent individuality of their own and all that they are they owe it to the society of which they are a part. This is really the Idealist or the Absolutist theory of the State and we discuss it at a later stage.
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Sharply opposed to the monistic theory is the monadnistic or purely individualistic theory which conceives society as a mere aggregation of individuals “each in large measure living in isolation and independent of his associates, capable of surviving and even flourishing without the aid of the State beyond a mere minimum of collective restraint for the protection of the weak against the aggression of the strong.”
Every individual is, thus, a self-contained unit and there is no interdependence of one on the other. He can survive and even flourish without the aid of the State. The necessity of the State is found in giving protection to the weak against the aggression of the strong. The State is, accordingly, a police State and it exists to protect and restrain, not to foster and promote.
Then, there is the dualistic theory; a compromise between the monistic theory and the monadnistic theory. According to this theory every individual leads a life of his own, but each is, in a way, dependent upon others for his welfare.
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His existence is neither merged in that of the whole, nor is he entirely isolated from and independent of his social surroundings. Fourthly, we have the organic theory which considers the State as a unity similar to that which characterises a biological organism. The Juristic theory and the Marxist theory are the other two.