Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being

268 Pages·1998·14.779 MB·English

by  Tibor R. Machan

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
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The beauty of life is nothing but this, that each should act in
conformity with his nature and his business.
Fray Luis de Leon
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