What Is Individualism? Can It Be Acceived In Todays Society? Who Has Writtern Good Philoshopy On Individualism? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I can't speak philosophicish, so I'll tell you what I know about individuality in human-speak. The variation of individuals within a species is in direct correlation with the pressures of natural selection. The stricter the pressures, the more conformity seen amongst the population, the looser the pressures of natural selection, the more variation. This is why humans are so individualistic, it actually has NOTHING to do with brain size or intelligence. Its because any kind of human can survive. With a species like the cheetah, it HAS to be a certain way, anything different is not good enough and will die before breeding, it has to look and behave a specific way to survive. So there are less differences between the individuals in the cheetah species than in the human species. We aren't the only species with individuals, and we aren't nearly as individualistic as we think. There would be quite a few people very similar to you, there aren't so much individuals as there are strains. But in the human species there are numerous varying strains, perhaps more than any other. Can it be achieved in todays society? Thats an odd question to me, but the human species is steadily becoming more and more diverse as far as individuals are concerned. So its more easily "achieved" in todays society than any other time in human history. And in a year it will be easier still and so on, untill focussed eugenics are introduced to our society.
Individualism happens when a person is motivated to put forth the mental effort neccessary to think indepenadantly for himself. To not have anothers opinions come between his consciousness and existence. It is the consistant focusing of his mind. To be able to focus outwardly long enough to break old lazy habit patterns of thought. To quit doing things because everybody else is doing it. To continuosly know what you are doing and why. Independance is focus, focus, focus. To the point that you are able to stay conscious of your actions continually and are able to live your life on purpose. It takes effort, alot! It has taken me years. I had a very hard time with the distinction of terms REASON/ OBJECTIVE/ IDENTITY/ NATURE and being able to fully integrate them into my existence. You will find these terms useful on your continuing search for individualism. MEATAPHYSICS= The study of reality EPISTAMOLOGY= The study of knowledge (How do we "know" we know) ETHICS= The study of the actions proper to man POLITICS= The study of our relationship with others ESTHETICS= The study of art Awesome. It is a long but adventurous journey for individualism, but once you catch your first glimpse of reality, it only gets better. I hope this helps, http://www.aynrand.org/academic/bopar_pop.html
