The Radical Integrity of Individual: An Existential Response to Oppression

Powell, Jason

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19341-6_12

Jason Powell⁴

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Abstract

Jason Powell argues in this chapter that libertarian individualism reinforces a faulty notion of the self, in which one is solely responsible not only for one’s own financial success but also for combatting, on one’s own, any destructive social relations that result from oppression. Libertarian individualism denies the reality of systemic oppression, which precludes the creation of a true participatory democracy that promotes individual, social, cultural, economic, and political flourishing. Instead, Powell calls for the radical integrity of the self, a form of individualism that not only recognizes the reality of double consciousness, a condition that undermines the self, but also understands that this divided consciousness is the consequence of epistemic oppression. This existential individualism understands that one can flourish, and participate in true democracy, only when one seeks epistemic equality with other selves.

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Notes

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Honors College, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
Jason Powell

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Honors College, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
Obed Frausto
Honors College, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
Jason Powell
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
Sarah Vitale

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Powell, J. (2020). The Radical Integrity of Individual: An Existential Response to Oppression. In: Frausto, O., Powell, J., Vitale, S. (eds) The Weariness of Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19341-6_12

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19341-6_12
Published: 11 August 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19340-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19341-6
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