Inventing the Individual

Siedentop, L. (2014). Inventing the individual: The origins of Western liberalism. London: Penguin Books.

Crisis of belief

I shall begin this book review with Sidentop’s final statement, “If we in the West do not understand the moral depth of our own tradition, how can we hope to shape the conversation of mankind?” He contends that many misguided intellectuals attribute the progress of Western civilization as resting on the foundation of the Enlightenment and the Renaissance of the fifteenth century. Modernity is characterised with the rise of secularism and modern science. With it has come a crisis of belief and questions about the relationship between secularism and faith.

Liberal democratic ideals

Our liberal democratic ideals did not, as many modern humanists believe, stem directly from Ancient Greek and Roman culture. Antiquity was grounded on 'natural' inequality and based on the ancestral family, hierarchical structure and slavery. The government of the Ancient city was based on patriarchy, racism, slavery, and the subjugation of women and the poor. Ancient democracy supported the notion of hierarchy and inequality. Only the male heads of property owning families could vote and make laws that formed the government of the people. This meant that women, slaves, foreigners and non-land owners were regarded as taking on a subservient role, which reflected their proper (natural) place in the world. 

The ancients

The ancient philosophers used reason to prop up this ancient notion of the 'polis' because they viewed world of matter and the cosmos as reflecting their own social hierarchical structures. Thus, the ancients believed that the paternal head was the guardian/priest of the family and property. The family property was the spiritual home of their ancestors. The notion of self was linked to an understanding of their position and status in the 'natural' order.  Thus, philosophical reasoning reflected this 'natural' order and ancient science demonstrated the processes. Moreover, the cosmos, for example, was seen as being composed of something like a hierarchy of concentric spheres, the closer the relationship to the earth and matter the lower the order or status of the sphere.  

The notion of the individual

A radical departure from the ancient 'natural' order was the Christian understanding of human kind: God created rational creatures who were endowed with the ability to reason and were free to make choices. It was an egalitarian understanding  whereby all individuals, no matter what their social status, race, or gender have a soul and are socially responsible. This notion developed into a new sociability,  a ..."sociability founded on the role of the individual conscience, on accepting the claims of a universal moral law. In no sphere did this emerge more clearly than in the status and treatment of women. We have seen that women had played an important part in the growth of the early church." The equal status of men and women in the marriage union was also reflected in society. The Biblical concept of reciprocality whereby you are expected to treat others as you would have them treat you has become known as the "golden rule" and is a foundation for a theory of "natural rights", ..."rights which belong to the individual as such, rights which are in that sense pre-social and ought to serve as a criterion of legitimate social organisation."

The individual and Government

The concept of democracy, liberalism and the notion of the individual and our understanding of natural rights were all developed in the hothouse of Western monastic culture. While Europe fragmented into localised feudal fiefdoms after the fall of the Roman empire the proliferation of monasticism preserved and spread Christendom throughout the West. In contrast to the hierarchical structure of the secular feudal society Western monasticism gave value to the individual and fostered the notion of egalitarianism. In monasteries persons neither had property or differential status but did have individual rights and responsibilities. Thus monasteries were regarded associations of individuals of equal status, for example, an abbot was usually elected by the monks. Thus, it was effectively government from the bottom up and essentially laid the foundation for modern liberal democracies. 

Meaning of individuals

By the time of the Renaissance the rise of individual agency and the development of modern liberal science and liberal society based on reasoned argument was already well underway. Theologians and philosophers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries developed cannon law which gave legitimacy to the notion that corporations came to be understood as associations of individuals. Thus the final authority of any association is found in the individual.