This is the first post in a new series I’m starting on this blog. I call it the daily *ism. It’s going to be mostly information copied from Wikipedia, but each entry is going to feature another *ism.
Now *ism’s have a variety of meanings, but at their root, they indicate a belief or principle. Now, I suppose there can be as many systems of though and belief as there are thinkers and believers. However, the credibility of some *ism’s are stronger than others, and unless you are a subscriber to relativism you will agree that some are more valid than others.
You wouldn’t believe how many *ism’s there are. With a quick Wikipedia Wildcard search, I came up with thousands of *ism’s to explore, which means I could be at this for a while.
This series isn’t meant to promote one *ism over another or to give a reflection of the *isms I espouse (many of them I reject entirely), but I will gravitate towards ones I find interesting. Each *ism will also include links to other *ism’s to explore.
So without further introduction, here’s the first *ism, individualism, an *ism which I happen to be quite proud to hold.
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses “the moral worth of the individual”.[1] Individualists promote the exercise of one’s goals and desires and so independence and self-reliance[2] while opposing most external interference upon one’s own interests, whether by society, family or any other group or institution.[2]
Individualism makes the individual its focus[1] and so it starts “with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation.” Classical liberalism (including libertarianism), existentialism and anarchism (especially individualist anarchism) are examples of movements that take the human individual as a central unit of analysis.[3]
It has also been used as a term denoting “The quality of being an individual; individuality”[2] related to possessing “An individual characteristic; a quirk.”[2] Individualism is thus also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there is a tendency towards self creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors[2][4] as so also with humanist philosophical positions and ethics.[5][6]