The Individual vs. The Collective

A clash of worldviews. 14 days comparing J.S. Mill’s On Liberty with the collectivist theories of Marx and Hegel.

1. John Stuart Mill – On Liberty: Mill (1859) celebrated individual freedom so long as no one harms others. He wrote, “over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.” This topic would highlight the harm principle: we should fiercely protect eccentricity, free speech, and personal choice as engines of progress, even if the majority disagrees.
2. G.W.F. Hegel – Spirit of the State: Hegel (early 19th c.) saw individuals as manifestations of a collective “World Spirit.” Freedom, to him, is realized by fulfilling social roles within the ethical life of community (the Geist). The essay could contrast Hegel’s embrace of state and family with Mill’s atomized individual, asking: do we find freedom in self-realization or in higher social purpose?
3. Karl Marx – Collective Identity: Marx envisioned a society where people work not for personal profit but common good. He argued that capitalism alienates individuals from each other, so authentic freedom comes from abolishing class divisions. A post on Marx would discuss “from each according to ability, to each according to need,” framing modern debates on individual rights versus social welfare.
4. Friedrich Nietzsche – The Overman vs. The Herd: Nietzsche championed the creative individual who rises above conformity. He criticized “herd mentality” in religion and democracy. This piece would cover his idea of the Übermensch (overman) who makes his own values, raising the question of what it means to be uniquely free or dangerously isolated from society.
5. Jean-Paul Sartre – Existential Freedom: Sartre (20th c. France) insisted “existence precedes essence”: humans first exist and must define themselves through choices. Even under oppressive regimes, he said, people are condemned to be free (with no excuses). This topic could examine how personal responsibility in an absurd world pits the individual against societal expectations or ideologies.
6. Simone de Beauvoir – Women’s Freedom: As a philosopher and feminist, Beauvoir applied existentialism to gender. She argued that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” through societal norms. Her day’s theme would stress how individuals (women) struggle against collective-imposed identities, insisting on authentic self-making beyond patriarchal roles.
7. Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own: Woolf (20th c. England) argued that creative freedom requires literal and figurative space. Women needed money and a private room to write, as an example. This entry illustrates how societal constraints (economic, gendered) limit individuals, and how true individual development calls for challenging collective traditions.
8. Isaiah Berlin – Two Concepts of Liberty: Philosopher Berlin (1958) distinguished negative liberty (freedom from interference) and positive liberty (self-mastery or being one’s own master). He warned that pursuing “collective good” (positive liberty) can slide into tyranny. The topic could discuss how granting a government more power to ensure equality might actually curb the very freedoms individuals need.
9. Confucian Duty vs. Self: Confucian ethics (China) emphasize duties: to family, rulers, and society. A person finds virtue not in radical independence but in fulfilling roles (filial son, loyal subject). This contrasts Western individualism. The day’s narrative might explore an anecdote: a Confucian scholar choosing duty over personal gain, highlighting that not all cultures see individual autonomy as supreme.
10. Ubuntu – Community and Self: Archbishops Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela described “ubuntu” (a Nguni Bantu concept) as “I am because we are.” In this African ethic, the individual’s identity is inextricable from the community. This segment would compare that worldview to Western individualism, showing how communal support can empower people, but also how it might suppress personal dissent in the name of harmony.
11. Edward Snowden – Privacy vs. Security: In 2013, Snowden’s leaks exposed mass surveillance. He saw individual privacy as fundamental. Governments, however, claimed security for the collective. A post on this modern story would question: does an individual’s right to the truth and privacy outweigh a state’s claim to protect all citizens? It dramatizes the tension of personal conscience versus collective law.
12. Alexis de Tocqueville and the Tyranny of the Majority: In 1831, a young French aristocrat named Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to America to study its prisons. What he actually discovered was a new kind of power. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville marveled at the energy and equality of American life—but feared something subtler than kings or mobs: the tyranny of the majority**. When everyone is formally equal, public opinion becomes irresistible. Individuals don’t need to be jailed to conform; they simply learn to think alike. Tocqueville warned that democratic societies risk trading independence of mind for comfort and consensus. His question still haunts us: How free are individuals when social pressure, not law, enforces obedience?
13. Friedrich Hayek and the Fatal Conceit of Central Planning: In the winter of 1944, as Europe was still at war, economist Friedrich Hayek published a slim, unsettling book: The Road to Serfdom. His claim was not that planners were evil, but that they were ignorant. No committee, however brilliant, could ever possess the dispersed, local knowledge held by millions of individuals—what he called “knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place.” Central planning, Hayek argued, is like trying to conduct an orchestra while wearing noise-canceling headphones. Prices, in a free market, act as signals that coordinate individual actions without coercion. When the state replaces those signals with plans, freedom erodes—not always violently, but quietly, as choices disappear. Hayek’s warning reframes the collective dilemma: the more a system demands that individuals conform to a single plan, the less human knowledge it can actually use.
14. Climate Change vs. Consumer Freedom: Younger generations point out that older policies exploited natural resources. Activists argue that sacrificing some individual comfort (limiting flights, meat consumption) is needed for global survival. This finale asks: if left unchecked, collective inaction will harm all, so should personal lifestyle be curtailed? It shows that long-term collective goods can pressure individual choices.