seen not as an artificial construct but ‘instead unique and self-sufficient cultural wholes’ that grew out of a theory involving an organic creation of a national community with roots in ‘the cult of individual genius;’ and in the United
States, individualism served to legitimate the notion of natural rights, before moving on to underpin notions of ‘social Darwinism, rugged individualism, and personal freedom.’
These frameworks were also driven by theories emanating from philosophers, social theorists, and politicians who argued for specific governmental and/or social frameworks, postures, and policies. Arguably originating with Hobbes, who radically offered up in The Leviathan both the notion that political authority was derived from a social contract between individuals and the suggestion it was an individual’s right to oppose any authority – including the king’s – if his life was threatened and he was sentenced death, the theory morphed across time: Locke set forth his theory of value involving rights to life, liberty, and property; Smith pushed forward a market of free individuals pursuing independent desire; Rousseau’s notion of the ‘social contract’ formed through an agreement between individuals and the ‘general will’ underpinned the French Revolution and generated the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which further embraced the autonomy of reason and the doctrine of free enquiry; Hayek engaged political and economic arguments to protect against state intervention; and Popper put forth the proposition that any explanation of events must first be grounded in individual belief, desire, or action. Moreover, individualism most clearly influenced America’s Declaration of Independence (with Locke’s right to property being replaced with ‘the pursuit of happiness')
and the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, not to mention most market economies around the world.
What a person sees in this development and extrapolation is that while religious rebellion was clearly a motivating factor, many other forces were at play: for example, commerce was expanding, generating a middle class comprised of craftspeople, merchants, and farmers that advocated for free enterprise and unlimited accumulation of wealth. For this reason alone, many argue that a fundamental split within individualism as a theory and practice pitted entrepreneurialism against Romanticism. But this merely confirms what must be acknowledged: that individualism was formed in a crucible of philosophy, culture, politics, and commerce.
One could, of course, go on and on. Yet, ironically, it must not be overlooked that a great many of the arguments for the rise of individualism not only extend back to arguments made by Socrates in the Platonic dialogues where he pushes for individuals to challenge themselves to think for themselves but through religious principles that pushed forward the notion of individualism through its doctrine that all men were created equal.
It must not be overlooked that a great many of the arguments for the rise of individualism not only extend back to arguments made by Socrates in the Platonic dialogues but through religious principles that pushed forward the notion of individualism through its doctrine that all men were created equal.
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