<ethics, metaphysics> 1. while the word individualism usually pertains to ethics, we can also speak of metaphysical individualism (that only particular, individual things exist - see concretism and nominalism), epistemological individualism (that only individual minds can come to have knowledge), political individualism (respect for individual rights), and methodological individualism (as in Austrian economics). In ethics, individualism refers to the principle that it is the unique, unrepeatable person who should be the beneficiary of action, not any sort of collective entity (thus individualism is essentially the same as egoism and is opposed to ethical collectivism). Most varieties of ethical individualism are brands of eudaimonism, but this is not true of, for example, existentialism or stoicism. In popular usage, the connotations of "individualism" can be positive or negative, depending on who is using the term. Though it is a positive word for many people, the term can imply a kind of atomism that necessarily puts a low or even negative value on relations with other people. (References from altruism, Aristotelianism, Buddhism, egoism, gnosticism, hedonism, humanism, naturalism, stoicism, transcendentalism, and utilitarianism.)
2. see internalism
Based on [The Ism Book]
Edited by Giovanni Benzi
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