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Individualism

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics

  • 155 Accesses

Synonyms

Agent based social theory; Agents; Liberalism

Definition

Individualism refers to ways of thinking that consider individual agents as fundamental rather than groups, collectives, or communities. There are individualist ways of thinking with respect to values in ethics and political philosophy, with respect to economic theory and to social science methodology, and with respect to government policies and individual behavior.

Individualism in Ethics and Value Theory

Individualism has two aspects: individualism of agents and individualism of the objects of ethical concern. Much of ethics is individualistic in both respects; that is, it concerns the moral assessment of the obligations, actions, and attitudes of specific individuals towards other specific individuals. The obligations of individuals are usually referred to as duties; viewed from the perspective of the individual that the obligations are towards, they are usually referred to as rights (human rights, civil rights, and...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada

    John Douglas Bishop

Authors
  1. John Douglas Bishop
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Correspondence to John Douglas Bishop .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Deborah C Poff

  2. Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Alex C. Michalos

Section Editor information

  1. Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada

    John Douglas Bishop

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Bishop, J.D. (2019). Individualism. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_168-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_168-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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