Respecting the Individual and Overcoming Individualism through Feminist Ethics and Philosophy for Children

Abstract

In contemporary Western liberalism, the individual and individualism are central concepts. In the spirit of Aristotle’s theory of virtue, excess and deficiency are both vices, which implies that excessive individualism is an undesirable phenomenon in a community, since, when sufficiently widespread, it can have a destructive force. In the first part of the article, we therefore reflect on the concepts of group and community in connection with the philosophical problem of part and whole. In the second part, we ask whether there is a way to preserve respect for the individual while avoiding excessive individualism, and thus to preserve the community. We find the solution at the intersection of philosophy for children and feminist ethics.