Individual
A distinct entity with unique needs, rights, and responsibilities.
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An individual is a distinct entity that exists as a separate being.[1] Individuality is the quality of being a unique person with one's own needs, goals, rights, and responsibilities.[1] Biology, law, and philosophy are among the many fields where the concept of an individual is discussed.[1]
Quick Facts
- Field
- Biology
- law
- philosophy
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
From the 15th century, "individual" meant "indivisible," describing any numerically singular thing or a person.[2] Empiricists like Ibn Tufail and John Locke viewed the individual as a blank slate shaped by experience.[3] Hegel held that the individual rises above their own viewpoint to grasp being part of a greater whole.[4] Ayn Rand's Objectivism regards every human as an independent, sovereign entity with an inalienable right to their own life.[5]
Objectivism holds that a civilized society can be achieved only on the basis of individual rights.[5] Individual rights are not subject to a public vote and protect minorities from oppression by majorities.[5] Beginning in the 17th century, the word "individual" came to denote a state of being separate, a meaning linked to individualism.[2] According to Objectivism, the foundation for any group or association's morality rests solely on the principle of individual rights.[5]
What the cited sources add
The Ayn Rand Lexicon states that individualism regards every man as an independent, sovereign entity with an inalienable right to his own life.[6] It adds that the mind is an attribute of the individual and belongs to single, individual men.[6] The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that biological individuals are physically-bounded, well-integrated, autonomous agents detectable with the senses.[7] It explains that a distinction between evolutionary and physiological individuals is useful in thinking about biological individuals.[7]
The encyclopedia reports that historians Scott Lidgard and Lynne Nyhart compiled a list of twenty-three criteria used to define "individual"[7] It states that the question of what constitutes an individual is usually identical with the question of what constitutes an individual organism.[7] D.S. Wilson introduced the term "trait group" to describe a type of group he considered widespread in nature, capable of functioning as a selection unit in the same way individual organisms do.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Individual" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Evaluate the role of an individual in the development of any society." (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Individual" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Abbs 1986, cited in Klein 2005, pp. 26–27 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Individual" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: G. A. Russell (1994), The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England, pp. 224–62, Brill Publishers, . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Individual" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zovko, "Hegel's concept of education from the point of view of his idea of 'second nature'", Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2018-05-12, p. 652–661; Hegel, "Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: The Science of Logic (Cambridge Hegel Translations)", Cambridge University Press, 19 August 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Individual" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ayn Rand, "Individualism". Ayn Rand Lexicon.; Ayn Rand (1961), "Individual Rights" . Ayn Rand Lexicon. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Ayn Rand, "Individualism". Ayn Rand Lexicon.. facts only, no text reused. aynrandlexicon.com
- Wilson, "The biological notion of individual", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Individual (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Individual (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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