INDIVIDUALISM

Nannerl O. Keohane, Philosophy and the State in France: The Renaissance to the Enlightenment (Princeton: Princeton U. Press, 1980) ("Constitutionalism and absolutism are labels for theories of the polity, alternative conceptions of the proper ordering and use of public power. They consider human beings as political entities, and deal with them only insofar as they have a place in the public realm. Individualism, in the form it took in French psychological and ethical theory in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, dealt with human beings primarily as private persons, and was more a mood or temper than a theory. It found expression in a variety of ideals during those centuries, Although individualism could be associated with the solitary life of the scholar in retreat form the world, it was more often associated with a pleasurable life of like-minded men (and sometime women( who eschewed regular public involvement to concentrate their energies in philosophy leisured discussion, and good fellowship with one another. Individualism promoted the joy of private life, the fulfillment of each person, the vita contemplativa rather than the vita activa. It was compatible with a greater or lesser awareness of public duties that needed to be performed to make such a way of life possible for those capable of enjoying it, The primary hallmark of individualism, in all it variants, was the exploration and fulfillment of the self." Id. at 83. "The role of the scholar in this impressively articulated order is to assist his king in understanding and applying the principles of philosophy that are the indispensable grounding of all human activity, from the conduct of the self to the government of principalities. Le Caron asserts that a philosopher true to the love of knowledge will also be a 'lover of la chose publique, tending to no other good but common utility, not living a life contrary to that of vulgar men but a better one, and giving no occasion to trouble the political order.' He contrasts such a life with that of the avaricious or ambitious man, the two types that became so prevalent in the social philosophy of the seventeenth century. Of the two, Le Caron regards ambition as more noble, since it imitates philosophy in its attention to public affairs, instead of remaining, as avarice, must always be, caught up in the inferior world of things. But the man who desires glory for its own sake rather than loving the public good corrupts his behavior to please other men, and 'nothing is virtuous or vicious to him but what pleases or displeases his master.' Only la souveraine philosophie comprehends 'the essence and truth of things' and provides a worthy motivation for excellence in human life." Id. at 85-86 (citations omitted).).