Editing Individualism (section)

== Political individualism ==
{{quote box|align=right|width=30%|quote="With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."|source=—[[Oscar Wilde]], ''[[The Soul of Man under Socialism]]'', 1891}}
Individualists are chiefly concerned with protecting individual autonomy against obligations imposed by social institutions (such as the state or religious morality). For [[L. Susan Brown]], "Liberalism and anarchism are two political philosophies that are fundamentally concerned with individual [[Freedom of will|freedom]] yet differ from one another in very distinct ways. Anarchism shares with liberalism a radical commitment to individual freedom while rejecting liberalism's competitive property relations."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

[[Civil libertarianism]] is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of [[individual rights]] and [[personal freedom]]s over and against any kind of authority (such as a [[State (polity)|state]], a [[corporation]] and social norms imposed through [[peer pressure]], among others).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/civil%20libertarian?r=14|title=Civil libertarian Definition & Meaning &#124; Dictionary.com}}</ref> Civil libertarianism is not a complete [[ideology]]; rather, it is a collection of views on the specific issues of [[civil liberties]] and [[civil rights]]. Because of this, a civil libertarian outlook is compatible with many other political philosophies, and civil libertarianism is found on both the [[Right-wing politics|right]] and [[Left-wing politics|left]] in modern politics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalcompass.org/analysis2|title=The Political Compass|first=The Political|last=Compass}}</ref> For scholar [[Ellen Meiksins Wood]], "there are doctrines of individualism that are opposed to [[John Locke|Lockean]] individualism [...] and non-Lockean individualism may encompass [[socialism]]".<ref>[[Ellen Meiksins Wood]]. ''Mind and Politics: An Approach to the Meaning of Liberal and Socialist Individualism''. [[University of California Press]]. 1972. {{ISBN|0-520-02029-4}}. p. 7</ref>

British historians such as Emily Robinson, Camilla Schofield, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Natalie Thomlinson have argued that Britons were keen about defining and claiming their individual rights, identities and perspectives by the 1970s, demanding greater personal autonomy and [[self-determination]] and less outside control, angrily complaining that the establishment was withholding it. Historians argue that this shift in concerns helped cause [[Thatcherism]] and was incorporated into Thatcherism's appeal.<ref>Emily Robinson, et al. "Telling stories about post-war Britain: popular individualism and the 'crisis' of the 1970s." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 28.2 (2017): 268–304.</ref>

=== Anarchism ===
{{main|Anarchism}}
{{anarchism sidebar|theory}}
Within anarchism, [[individualist anarchism]] represents several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and their [[will (philosophy)|will]] over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems.<ref name="ryner">"What do I mean by individualism? I mean by individualism the moral doctrine which, relying on no dogma, no tradition, no external determination, appeals only to the individual conscience."[https://www.marxists.org/archive/ryner/1905/mini-manual.htm ''Mini-Manual of Individualism'' by Han Ryner]</ref><ref name="tucker">"I do not admit anything except the existence of the individual, as a condition of his sovereignty. To say that the sovereignty of the individual is conditioned by Liberty is simply another way of saying that it is conditioned by itself." "Anarchism and the State" in ''Individual Liberty''</ref> Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but refers to a group of individualistic philosophies that sometimes are in conflict.

In 1793, [[William Godwin]], who has often<ref>Everhart, Robert B. The Public School Monopoly: A Critical Analysis of Education and the State in American Society. Pacific Institute for Public Policy Research, 1982. p. 115.</ref> been cited as the first anarchist, wrote ''[[Political Justice]]'', which some consider to be the first expression of anarchism.<ref name="godwinsep"/><ref>Adams, Ian. Political Ideology Today. Manchester University Press, 2001. p. 116.</ref> Godwin, a philosophical anarchist, from a [[rationalist]] and [[utilitarian]] basis opposed revolutionary action and saw a [[Limited government|minimal state]] as a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge.<ref name="godwinsep">{{cite SEP |url-id=godwin |title=William Godwin |last=Philip  |first=Mark|date=2006-05-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Modern Morals and Manners |last=Godwin |first=William |author-link=William Godwin |year=1796 |publisher=G.G. and J. Robinson |oclc=2340417 |orig-date=1793}}</ref> Godwin advocated individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labour be eliminated on the premise that this would be most conducive with the general good.<ref>''Britannica Concise Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 7 December 2006, from [https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9037183 Encyclopædia Britannica Online].</ref><ref name=pmcl119>Paul McLaughlin. Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. p. 119.</ref>

An influential form of individualist anarchism called [[Egoist anarchism|egoism]],<ref name="Goodway, David 2006, p. 99">Goodway, David. [[Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow]]. Liverpool University Press, 2006, p. 99.</ref> or egoist anarchism, was expounded by one of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism, the German [[Max Stirner]].<ref name="SEP-Stirner">{{cite SEP |url-id=max-stirner |title=Max Stirner |last=Leopold  |first=David|date=2006-08-04}}</ref> Stirner's ''[[The Ego and Its Own]]'', published in 1844, is a founding text of the philosophy.<ref name="SEP-Stirner"/> According to Stirner, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire,<ref name="The Encyclopedia Americana p. 176">The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge. Encyclopedia Corporation. p. 176.</ref> without regard for God, state, or morality.<ref name="Miller, David 1987. p. 11">Miller, David. "Anarchism." 1987. ''The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought''. Blackwell Publishing. p. 11.</ref> To Stirner, rights were ''[[Reification (fallacy)|spooks]]'' in the mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality".<ref>"What my might reaches is my property; and let me claim as property everything I feel myself strong enough to attain, and let me extend my actual property as fas as ''I'' entitle, that is, empower myself to take..." In Ossar, Michael. 1980. ''Anarchism in the Dramas of Ernst Toller''. SUNY Press. p. 27.</ref> Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw [[union of egoists|unions of egoists]], non-systematic associations continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will,<ref name="nonserviam"/> which Stirner proposed as a form of organization in place of the state.<ref name=karl/> Egoist anarchists claim that egoism will foster genuine and spontaneous union between individuals.<ref name=carlson>{{Cite book | last = Carlson | first = Andrew | title = Anarchism in Germany |title-link=Anarchism in Germany (book) | publisher = Scarecrow Press | location = Metuchen | year = 1972 | isbn = 0-8108-0484-0 | chapter-url = http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/carlson.html | chapter = Philosophical Egoism: German Antecedents | access-date = 2008-12-04 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081210202509/http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/carlson.html | archive-date = 2008-12-10 }}</ref> Egoist anarchism has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy. It was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and [[LGBT]] activist [[John Henry Mackay]].

[[Josiah Warren]] is widely regarded as the first American anarchist<ref name=Slate>Palmer, Brian (2010-12-29) [http://www.slate.com/id/2279457/ What do anarchists want from us?], ''[[Slate.com]]''</ref> and ''The Peaceful Revolutionist'', the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, was the first anarchist periodical published.<ref name="bailie20">William Bailie, {{cite web|url=http://libertarian-labyrinth.org/warren/1stAmAnarch.pdf |title=Josiah Warren: The First American Anarchist |access-date=June 17, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204155505/http://libertarian-labyrinth.org/warren/1stAmAnarch.pdf |archive-date=February 4, 2012 }} ''Josiah Warren: The First American Anarchist – A Sociological Study'', Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1906, p. 20</ref> For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, "[i]t is apparent [...] that [[Mutualism (economic theory)|Proudhonian Anarchism]] was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and [[Stephen Pearl Andrews]]. [...] [[William B. Greene]] presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form".<ref name="againstallauthority.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.againstallauthority.org/NativeAmericanAnarchism.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213201445/http://www.againstallauthority.org/NativeAmericanAnarchism.html|url-status=dead|title=''Native American Anarchism: A Study of Left-Wing American Individualism'' by Eunice Minette Schuster|archivedate=February 13, 2016}}</ref> [[Henry David Thoreau]] was an important early influence in individualist anarchist thought in the United States and Europe.<ref name="thoreau">"Paralelamente, al otro lado del atlántico, en el diferente contexto de una nación a medio hacer, los Estados Unidos, otros filósofos elaboraron un pensamiento individualista similar, aunque con sus propias especificidades. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), uno de los escritores próximos al movimiento de la filosofía trascendentalista, es uno de los más conocidos. Su obra más representativa es Walden, aparecida en 1854, aunque redactada entre 1845 y 1847, cuando Thoreau decide instalarse en el aislamiento de una cabaña en el bosque, y vivir en íntimo contacto con la naturaleza, en una vida de soledad y sobriedad. De esta experiencia, su filosofía trata de transmitirnos la idea que resulta necesario un retorno respetuoso a la naturaleza, y que la felicidad es sobre todo fruto de la riqueza interior y de la armonía de los individuos con el entorno natural. Muchos han visto en Thoreau a uno de los precursores del ecologismo y del anarquismo primitivista representado en la actualidad por Jonh Zerzan. Para George Woodcock, esta actitud puede estar también motivada por una cierta idea de resistencia al progreso y de rechazo al materialismo creciente que caracteriza la sociedad norteamericana de mediados de siglo XIX."[http://www.acracia.org/1-23a58lainsumision.pdf "Voluntary non-submission. Spanish individualist anarchism during dictatorship and the second republic (1923–1938)"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723130358/http://www.acracia.org/1-23a58lainsumision.pdf |date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref> Thoreau was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, [[Development criticism|development critic]], surveyor, historian, philosopher and leading [[transcendentalist]], who is best known for his book ''[[Walden]]'', a reflection upon [[simple living]] in natural surroundings, and his essay ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|Civil Disobedience]]'', an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. Later, [[Benjamin Tucker]] fused Stirner's egoism with the economics of Warren and Proudhon in his eclectic influential publication ''[[Liberty (1881–1908)|Liberty]]''.

From these early influences, anarchism and especially individualist anarchism was related to the [[Anarchism and issues related to love and sex|issues of love and sex]]. In different countries, this attracted a small but diverse following of bohemian artists and intellectuals,<ref name="bohemian individualism">{{Cite web|url=http://libcom.org/library/socanlifean2|title=2. Individualist Anarchism and Reaction|website=libcom.org}}</ref> [[free love]] and [[birth control]] advocates,<ref name="freelove">{{Cite web|url=https://ncc-1776.org/tle1996/le961210.html|title=The Free Love Movement and Radical Individualism, By Wendy McElroy|website=ncc-1776.org|access-date=2022-03-17|archive-date=2021-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111508/https://ncc-1776.org/tle1996/le961210.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.acracia.org/1-23a58lainsumision.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723130358/http://www.acracia.org/1-23a58lainsumision.pdf|url-status=dead|title="La insumisión voluntaria: El anarquismo individualista español durante la Dictadura y la Segunda República (1923–1938)" by Xavier Díez|archivedate=July 23, 2011}}</ref> individualist [[Naturism|naturists]] [[Nudism|nudists]] as in [[anarcho-naturism]],<ref>"Los anarco-individualistas, G.I.A...Una escisión de la FAI producida en el IX Congreso (Carrara, 1965) se pr odujo cuando un sector de anarquistas de tendencia humanista rechazan la interpretación que ellos juzgan disciplinaria del ''pacto asociativo" clásico, y crean los GIA (Gruppi di Iniziativa Anarchica) . Esta pequeña federación de grupos, hoy nutrida sobre todo de veteranos anarco-individualistas de orientación pacifista, naturista, etcétera defiende la autonomía personal y rechaza a rajatabla toda forma de intervención en los procesos del sistema, como sería por ejemplo el sindicalismo. Su portavoz es L'Internazionale con sede en Ancona. La escisión de los GIA prefiguraba, en sentido contrario, el gran debate que pronto había de comenzar en el seno del movimiento"[http://eljorobado.enlucha.info/bicicleta/bicicleta/ciclo/01/17.htm "El movimiento libertario en Italia" by ''Bicicleta. REVISTA DE COMUNICACIONES LIBERTARIAS'' Year 1 No. Noviembre, 1 1977] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012054206/http://eljorobado.enlucha.info/bicicleta/bicicleta/ciclo/01/17.htm |date=October 12, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="acracia.org">"Proliferarán así diversos grupos que practicarán el excursionismo, el naturismo, el nudismo, la emancipación sexual o el esperantismo, alrededor de asociaciones informales vinculadas de una manera o de otra al anarquismo. Precisamente las limitaciones a las asociaciones obreras impuestas desde la legislación especial de la Dictadura potenciarán indirectamente esta especie de asociacionismo informal en que confluirá el movimiento anarquista con esta heterogeneidad de prácticas y tendencias. Uno de los grupos más destacados, que será el impulsor de la revista individualista Ética será el Ateneo Naturista Ecléctico, con sede en Barcelona, con sus diferentes secciones la más destacada de las cuales será el grupo excursionista Sol y Vida."[http://www.acracia.org/1-23a58lainsumision.pdf "La insumisión voluntaria: El anarquismo individualista español durante la Dictadura y la Segunda República (1923–1938)" by Xavier Díez] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723130358/http://www.acracia.org/1-23a58lainsumision.pdf |date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="aujourdhui">"Les anarchistes individualistes du début du siècle l'avaient bien compris, et intégraient le naturisme dans leurs préoccupations. Il est vraiment dommage que ce discours se soit peu à peu effacé, d'antan plus que nous assistons, en ce moment, à un retour en force du puritanisme (conservateur par essence)."[http://ytak.club.fr/natytak.html "Anarchisme et naturisme, aujourd'hui." by Cathy Ytak] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225212442/http://ytak.club.fr/natytak.html |date=February 25, 2009 }}</ref> [[freethought]] and [[Anti-clericalism|anti-clerical]] activists<ref name="mises.org">{{cite web|url=https://mises.org/journals/jls/5_3/5_3_4.pdf|title=Culture of Individualist Anarchism in Late 19th Century America|last=anne|date=30 July 2014}}</ref> as well as young anarchist outlaws in what came to be known as [[illegalism]] and [[individual reclamation]],<ref name="The Illegalists">[http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/illegalistsDougImrie.htm The "Illegalists"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908072801/http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/illegalistsDougImrie.htm |date=September 8, 2015 }}, by Doug Imrie (published by [[Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed]])</ref><ref name="Parry, Richard 1987. p. 15">Parry, Richard. ''The Bonnot Gang''. Rebel Press, 1987. p. 15</ref> especially within [[European individualist anarchism]] and [[individualist anarchism in France]]. These authors and activists included [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Émile Armand]], [[Han Ryner]], [[Henri Zisly]], [[Renzo Novatore]], [[Miguel Giménez Igualada]], [[Adolf Brand]] and [[Lev Chernyi]] among others. In his important essay ''[[The Soul of Man Under Socialism]]'' from 1891, Wilde defended socialism as the way to guarantee individualism and so he saw that "[w]ith the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all".<ref name="flag.blackened.net">{{cite web|url=http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/hist_texts/wilde_soul.html|title=Oscar Wilde essay The soul of man under Socialism|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914032335/http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/hist_texts/wilde_soul.html|archive-date=2013-09-14}}</ref> For anarchist historian [[George Woodcock]], "Wilde's aim in ''The Soul of Man Under Socialism'' is to seek the society most favorable to the artist.&nbsp;[...] for Wilde art is the supreme end, containing within itself enlightenment and regeneration, to which all else in society must be subordinated.&nbsp;[...] Wilde represents the anarchist as [[aesthete]]".<ref name="Anarchism 1962. p. 447">[[George Woodcock]]. ''Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements.'' 1962. (p. 447)</ref> Woodcock finds that "[t]he most ambitious contribution to literary anarchism during the 1890s was undoubtedly Oscar Wilde ''The Soul of Man Under Socialism''" and finds that it is influenced mainly by the thought of [[William Godwin]].<ref name="Anarchism 1962. p. 447"/>

=== Autarchism ===
{{main|Autarchism}}
Autarchism promotes the principles of individualism, the moral ideology of individual liberty and self-reliance whilst rejecting compulsory government and supporting the elimination of government in favor of ruling oneself to the exclusion of rule by others. [[Robert LeFevre]], recognized as an autarchist by [[anarcho-capitalist]] [[Murray Rothbard]],<ref>Rothbard, Murray N. (2007). ''[https://mises.org/books/betrayal.pdf The Betrayal of the American Right]'', [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]], p. 187. {{ISBN|978-1-933550-13-8}}</ref> distinguished autarchism from [[anarchy]], whose [[Anarchist economics|economics]] he felt entailed interventions contrary to freedom in contrast to his own ''[[laissez-faire]]'' economics of the [[Austrian School]].<ref>[http://fair-use.org/rampart-journal/1965/12/autarchy-versus-anarchy "Autarchy vs Anarchy" by Robert LeFevre]. ''Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought'' Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter, 1965): 30–49</ref>

=== Liberalism ===
{{main|Liberalism}}
{{liberalism sidebar|related}}
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted in the United States, Europe, Australia and other [[Western world|Western]] nations, and was recognized as an important value by many Western philosophers throughout history, in particular since [[the Enlightenment]]. It is often rejected by collectivist ideas such as in [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic]] or [[Confucianism|Confucian]] societies, although [[Taoist]]s were and are known to be individualists.<ref>The Ancient Chinese Super State of Primary Societies: Taoist Philosophy for the 21st Century, You-Sheng Li, June 2010, p. 300</ref> The Roman Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] wrote praising "the idea of a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed".<ref>Marcus Aurelius, ''Meditations'', Oxford University Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-19-954059-4}}.</ref>

Liberalism has its roots in the [[Age of Enlightenment]] and rejects many [[Foundationalism|foundational]] assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the [[Divine Right of Kings]], hereditary status, and [[established religion]]. [[John Locke]] and [[Montesquieu]] are often credited with the philosophical foundations of [[classical liberalism]], a political ideology inspired by the broader liberal movement. Locke wrote that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."<ref name = "locke">{{cite book | last = Locke | first = John | title = Two Treatises of Government | publisher = [[Project Gutenberg]] | year = 1690 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/trgov10h.htm | access-date = January 21, 2009| edition = 10th }}</ref>

In the 17th century, liberal ideas began to influence European governments in nations such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Poland, but they were strongly opposed, often by armed might, by those who favored absolute monarchy and established religion. In the 18th century, the first modern liberal state was founded without a monarch or a hereditary aristocracy in the United States of America.<ref>Paul E. Sigmund, editor, ''The Selected Political Writings of John Locke'', Norton, 2003, {{ISBN|0-393-96451-5}} p. iv "(Locke's thoughts) underlie many of the fundamental political ideas of US liberal constitutional democracy...", "At the time Locke wrote, his principles were accepted in theory by a few and in practice by none."</ref> The [[US Declaration of Independence]] includes the words which echo Locke that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are [[life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness]]; that to insure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the [[consent of the governed]]."<ref>Thomas Jefferson, ''Declaration of Independence'', July 4, 1776.</ref>

Liberalism comes in many forms. According to [[John N. Gray]], the essence of liberalism is toleration of different beliefs and of different ideas as to what constitutes a good life.<ref>John Gray, ''Two Faces of Liberalism'', The New Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-56584-678-4}}</ref>