Individual Liberty and Western Civilization. Part I
The Individual and Society: Irreconcilable Interests ?
It is common in conservative circles to lament the supposedly harmful effects of modern individualism on both private and public morals. The decline of morals, it is argued, accompanies the rise of the individual and their rights. Indeed, individuals, by asserting their rights, allegedly prioritize their personal interests over those of the group to which they belong, thereby threatening social order as a whole and weakening the nation.
Thus, the strength of the nation-state could only be achieved by oppressing the individual and subordinating them to grand social objectives, in which they would serve merely as a means. The relationship between the nation-state and the individual would therefore resemble a zero-sum game, where one’s gains equate to the other’s losses. This evokes a form of moral collectivism typical of organic conceptions of society, where the individual is nothing, and the community is everything.
We argue that this analysis is largely mistaken, provided one adequately understands what modern individualism truly is. Far from weakening the nation, we believe that valuing the individual and protecting their rights are the principal sources of the prosperity and strength of Western nations.
To that end, rejecting individualism would be suicidal.
What is Liberal Individualism?
Individualism emphasizes, first and foremost, human autonomy:
"The hallmark of the human individual is the ability to decide for oneself based on representations and norms arising from critical reflection, which they are capable of translating into strategies and actions (self-mastery)."
Laurent Alain, Histoire de l’individualisme, Paris, PUF, 1993, p. 5.
Individualism views humans as rational and autonomous beings, capable of distinguishing truth from falsehood and good from evil through the use of reason. The foundation of individual autonomy lies in rationality. Indeed, it is because individuals possess the ability to judge things based on criteria provided by reason that they are not mere passive subjects to external forces (social or otherwise) entirely beyond their control.
From a moral perspective, individualism is grounded in a high regard for the individual. This value attributed to the individual is a legacy of Christianity. It is because humans are made in the image of God that they possess dignity, meaning their person has intrinsic worth. In Catholic theology, this likeness to God is based on the idea that, like the Father, humans are also endowed with free will and reason.
Liberal individualism secularizes this doctrine.
Starting in the 17th century, liberal philosophy gradually secularized this Christian vision of humanity. By emphasizing the autonomy of the individual as a free and rational being, whose life holds intrinsic value, liberalism fundamentally asserts itself as a form of individualism. It is the political expression of the moral doctrine of individualism. In other words, liberalism is first and foremost a political doctrine – not an economic one.