Editing DGF transcendent values (section)

==== Tensions ====
Each of these values are in tension with their paired opposite. The group and the individual need each other for their very existence. Giving the group greater power makes it possible for them to suppress individual freedom. Giving the individual more freedom threatens group cohesion. The group and the individuals are both served when both are more powerful. But when one side wins, they both lose. Therefore formally defining the distinctions is dangerous. 

For example, what is public information that should be transparent vs. what is individual information that should be private. Formally defining the distinction leads to group competition over the definition, which undermines the stability of the group. Instead the members should protect the value of maximizing both ''<small>–</small>'' maximizing what is public information and maximizing what is individual privacy.

This essential tension holds on many scales and is a foundational idea for many political theories, from the beginning of philosophy. Aristotle developed this idea as the [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/#DoctMean Doctrine of the Mean], in Book II of his ''Nicomachean Ethics.''