On the rights and wrongs of individualism

.

Chapter 3 in Liberal Solidarity, 2021, pp 45-63 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: While individualism has several different meanings, it is noted with regret that it has become a dirty word on the left. We may reject some versions of individualism, but individual rights are vital. Rights must be protected for our wellbeing and development. We have rights to our bodies, against torture or arbitrary imprisonment. We have rights to autonomy and freedom of agency. On these and other grounds there are also rights to private property. Rights and duties are different sides of the same coin. We have duties to others and to society as a whole. While individuals and their rights are of the utmost value, we should not adopt an atomistic individualism where relations with others are downplayed. In particular, the business corporation should be understood as an entity in itself, and not as an aggregation of individuals. This means that the power of large corporations can be a problem.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Politics and Public Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781800882164.00007.xml (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:20515_3

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().