Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being PDF
Preview Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being
CLASSICAL INDIVIDUALISM Machan’s book is one of the most thorough accounts of political and moral individualism available…. However classical its origins, classical individualism provides us with a new alternative perspective through which to make sense of the competing claims, interests and programs found in our world. Douglas J.Den Uyl, Bellarmine College, Louisville, USA In Classical Individualism, Tibor R.Machan argues that individualism is far from dead. Machan identifies, develops and defends what he calls classical individualism—an individualism humanized by classical philosophy, rooted in Aristotle rather than in Hobbes. Classical Individualism does not reject the social nature of human beings, but finds that everyone is a self-directed agent who is responsible for what he or she does. Machan rejects all types of collectivism, including communitarianism, ethnic solidarity, racial unity and gender identity. The ideas expressed in Classical Individualismhave important social and political implications, and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the notion of individuality and individual responsibility. Anyone with an interest in social and political affairs, social ethics, political philosophy, economics, rights theory, the nature of the human being, libertarianism, capitalism, or environmentalism will want to read this book. Tibor R.Machan is Professor at Auburn University, Alabama, but is currently Professor and Distinguished Fellow at the School of Business and Economics, Chapman University, California. He is also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His most recent books include Generosity: Virtue in Civil Society, Private Rights and Public Illusions and Liberty and Culture: Essays on the Idea of a Free Society. ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT 1 HAYEK AND AFTER Hayekian liberalism as a research programme Jeremy Shearmur 2 CONFLICTS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE Edited by Anton van Harskamp 3 POLITICAL THOUGHT OF ANDRÉ GORZ Adrian Little 4 CORRUPTION, CAPITALISM AND DEMOCRACY John Girling 5 FREEDOM AND CULTURE IN WESTERN SOCIETY Hans Blokland 6 FREEDOM IN ECONOMICS New perspectives in normative analysis Edited by Jean-Francois Laslier, Marc Fleurbaey, Nicolas Gravel and Alain Trannoy 7 AGAINST POLITICS On government, and order Anthony de Jasay 8 MAX WEBER AND MICHEL FOUCAULT Parallel life works Arpad Szakolczai 9 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND HUMAN RIGHTS G.B.Madison 10 ON DURKHEIM’S ELEMENTARY FORMS Edited by W.Pickering, W.Watts Miller and N.J.Allen 1 CLASSICAL INDIVIDUALISM The supreme importance of each human being Tibor R.Machan 12 THE AGE OF REASONS Quixotism, sentimentalism and political economy in eighteenth-century Britain Wendy Motooka 13 INDIVIDUALISM IN MODERN THOUGHT From Adam Smith to Hayek Lorenzo Infantino 14 PROPERTY AND POWER IN SOCIAL THEORY A study in intellectual rivalry Dick Pels 15 WITTGENSTEIN AND THE IDEA OF A CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY Giddens, Haberman and Bhaskar Nigel Pleasants 16 MARXISM AND HUMAN NATURE Sean Sayers CLASSICAL INDIVIDUALISM The supreme importance of each human being Tibor R.Machan London and New York First published 1998 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. "To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk." Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1998 Tibor R.Machan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Machan, Tibor R. Classical indiviualism: the supreme importance of each human being/Tibor R. Machan (Routledge studies in social and political thought: 11) 1. Indiviualism. I. Title. II. Series. HM136.M1553 1988 98–9404 302.5'4–dc21 CIP ISBN 0-203-16941-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-26490-8 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-16572-5 (Print Edition) FOR YONITA This page intentionally left blank. The beauty of life is nothing but this, that each should act in conformity with his nature and his business. Fray Luis de Leon This page intentionally left blank.
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