[ExI] Whither Individualism?

[Lee Corbin]

Oops,  I am afraid that I misunderstood the way that the term "individualism"
is standardly used.  Re-studying the wikipedia page on the subject,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism  I find that there is no section entitled
"psychological individualism" or its equivalent.

My major beef with a lot of contemporary society is a form of behavior
exhibited by many "hyper-individualists" who are routinely tactless and
who seemingly enjoy very much breaking most conventions they know
of.  In other words, they flaunt their "individualism" as they flout all the
usual norms of civilized, polite, thoughtful, considerate behavior.

"Individualism", on the contrary---and as explained in the above article
---seems to refer *only* to man's relationship to society as follows:

"Individualism is a term used to describe a moral, political, or social
outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of
individual self-reliance and liberty. Individualists promote the unrestricted
exercise of individual goals and desires. They oppose most external
interference with an individual's choices."   My apologies for the confusion.

No one that I know of here, including me, is going to have much criticism
of that definition, despite what I consider to be De Tocqueville's mysterious
remarks below.  Hayek, incidentally, mentions De Tocqueville as someone
who understood the difference between "good individualism" and "bad
individualism".

Lee

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin at rawbw.com>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 8:17 PM
Subject: [ExI] Whither Individualism?


> Here is a passage from wikipedia's entry on individualism:
>
> "Alexis de Tocqueville, whose book Democracy in America was translated in English in 1840 (published in French in
> 1835) used the term as well. Tocqueville described Americans as highly individualistic and believed that this
> individualism was inseparable from the new American concept of egalitarian democracy. He wrote, "Not only does
> democracy make men forget their ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from
> their contemporaries, Each man is forever thrown back upon himself, and there is danger that he may shut up in the
> solitude of his own heart." And, mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the
> community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends, so that
> after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself. "Individualism is a 
> Selfishness
> originates in blind instinct; individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved feelings; it
> originates as much in deficiencies of mind as in perversity of heart. Selfishness blights the germ of all virtue;
> individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but in the long run it attacks and destroys all
> others and is at length absorbed in downright selfishness."     ---internal references can be found in the link here:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism
>
> Note the part:
>
>     Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the
>     community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with
>     his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his own,
>     he willingly leaves society at large to itself.
>
> De Tocqueville is clearly rcorrect here, but I wonder about two of his observations.
> First, if the Americans were truly as individualistic as he writes (in 1840), then how is
> that they were so concerned about remote and in most cases non-personal issues
> such as slavery and abolition?  (2) Being the astute observer that he was, just how
> were conditions in Europe---say Paris, or France in general---any different?  I would
> like to be able to imagine it, but I cannot.
>
> In any case, although I still have some problems with what de Tocqueville wrote, I do
> sense much more than I did fifteen years ago that there is something wrong in much
> of contemporary culture and its over-glorification of the individual.  One very seldom
> sees community action or community spirit celebrated in movies, it seems to me.
>
> Lee