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Single Idea 7977

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / b. Liberal individualism ]

Full Idea

Individuality is a recent phenomenon. It is only over the last two centuries that the populations of the civilized countries have demanded the democratic privilege of being individuals.

Gist of Idea

Only in the last 200 years have people demanded the democratic privilege of being individuals

Source

Jean Baudrillard (The Intelligence of Evil [2004], p. 55)

Book Ref

Baudrillard,Jean: 'The Intelligence of Evil or The Lucidity Pact' [Berg 2005], p.55

A Reaction

I think Aristotle's ethics and politics imply individuality, given that the only purpose of civic society seems to be to enable individuals to flourish and lead virtuous lives. Society is justified, for example, because it makes friendship possible.

The 16 ideas from Jean Baudrillard

7974 Without God we faced reality: what do we face without reality? [Baudrillard]
7973 There is no longer anything on which there is nothing to say [Baudrillard]
7975 The task of philosophy is to unmask the illusion of objective reality [Baudrillard]
7976 People like democracy because it means they can avoid power [Baudrillard]
7977 Only in the last 200 years have people demanded the democratic privilege of being individuals [Baudrillard]
7978 There is no need to involve the idea of free will to make choices about one's life [Baudrillard]
7979 The arrival of the news media brought history to an end [Baudrillard]
7980 In modern times, being useless is the essential aesthetic ingredient for an object [Baudrillard]
7981 Whole populations are terrorist threats to authorities, who unite against them [Baudrillard]
7982 Instead of thesis and antithesis leading to synthesis, they now cancel out, and the conflict is levelled [Baudrillard]
7983 Good versus evil has been banefully reduced to happiness versus misfortune [Baudrillard]
7984 Suicide is ascribed to depression, with the originality of the act of will ignored [Baudrillard]
7985 Pascal says secular life is acceptable, but more fun with the hypothesis of God [Baudrillard]
7986 Drunken boat pilots are less likely to collide than clearly focused ones [Baudrillard]
7987 Nothing is true, but everything is exact [Baudrillard]
6841 Some continental philosophers are relativists - Baudrillard, for example [Baudrillard, by Critchley]