In a pre-capitalist society, people had no idea what individualism is. This was one of those words that were forbidden by censorship and religion, all people obeyed the system, and the opinion of a certain individual was never taken into account. Each of the people could express their thoughts only with the advent of the Renaissance, when it was man who became the center of the worldview. Then people realized that individualism is the path to self-improvement, the ability to exist independently, in complete harmony with oneself. Today, this philosophical position is more than common throughout the world, so we are starting to study it right now.
What does this term mean?
In a “dry” understanding, individualism is a form of worldview that emphasizes the individual’s freedom from society and from a system that makes it possible to bring personal interests to the forefront and engage in the realization of his own, and not public, desires. To make it clearer what this is, we consider the main signs of individualism:
- The supremacy of personal goals and desires. As a rule, these go against public or group ones. And an individualist person will always give preference to his own needs.
- Independence in actions and deeds. Even if a person is an integral part of the team (a group at the university, a team of employees, etc.), he can act independently, proceed from his own convictions, and the likelihood that his activity will be successful is very high.
What is this worldview based on?
Now let us turn our attention to what the main principle of individualism is like, without which this philosophical movement could not exist. So, individualism is based on the fact that every person can, and moreover, must live in full accordance with his desires - physical and mental. Each of his actions should be based on his dream, need, passion and so on. This applies to both leisure and work. In other words, the individualist will always choose a profession that will bring him only pleasure and income, and not annoyance, he will spend his free time with maximum benefit and return, all his undertakings will be somewhat selfish in nature. However, there is another very important rule - all this should not interfere with the manifestation of individualism in other people nearby.
Ideals and idols
Throughout the history of mankind, various values of individualism have been formed, which have progressed and modified, but have survived to this day. We can say that, compared with the society of the 19th century, now this system of worldview is much more widespread from a social point of view - people have more freedoms and rights. On the basis of what has our society become so, why have we reached this point of development? To do this, just look in retrospect and pay attention to famous ancestors. In the ancient world, the individualist was the mythical Achilles of the Iliad. Despite the fact that he fought for power, he had all his own judgment and acted as he considered necessary. In the era of the Middle Ages, individualists were called rebels and were considered the main danger of society - just remember Joan of Arc. Starting from the Renaissance, we see that individualism is basically literature. Daniel Defoe, Jack London, Dostoevsky, all the poets of the Silver Age and many others. The main value in the life of the aforementioned persons was the ability to independently make decisions and make their life different from others.
Cultural aspect
A very important role in itself is played by the culture of individualism, which, in fact, maintains this world view afloat. Due to the fact that over the centuries, our society does not look like a herd controlled by a single shepherd, it is being improved.
This is manifested both in everyday life (improving living conditions, inventions in the field of technology) and in traditions (for example, a modern person will not be ridiculed because he did not celebrate
the spring equinox, or his front door will not be covered with tar if he cheated on his wife). The development of a culture of individualism makes it possible for many artists and writers to “break through”. Our cultural society begins to develop from full-fledged thinking individuals who can find a compromise with each other without abandoning their personal principles.
Compared to the opposite term
For contrast, let us try to compare collectivism and individualism and determine why some people have one thing in common, and another - another. Collectivism is a person’s tendency to function and think in a large society. As a rule, in such cases, people depend on each other or on the head of such a group. The very first team that a person falls into is a family. If it is large (many children, or grandparents, aunts, uncles), then the child grows precisely with a collective worldview. In the future, the opinion of others is important for him, he seeks to get a job in a company with a large staff, looking for a lot of friends. If the child is alone in the family, an individualistic worldview develops in him, which we spoke about above.
Methodological individualism
This term refers to a theoretical position. It is assumed that for an adequate sociological assessment of a particular phenomenon or object, it is necessary to contact the individual, that is, the person. This refers to the human factor, inconstancy and non-standard. In other words, if in the past centuries, prisoners were tried on the basis of written laws, sometimes very cruel, without amnesty rights, today any crime is examined through various prisms, while finding a reasonable and humane compromise. The principle of methodological individualism lies in the fact that an appeal to a certain “humane reason” (it doesn’t matter if it is a living person who is asked for advice, or a certain deity) can be carried out both by a simple citizen of the world and by a representative of state power. Each of them should seek the most reasonable solution to any issue, while weighing all the circumstances.