Individual liberty has become a cosmopolitan value beyond its Western origins

Evidence

The goal of this third tactical operation is to make a distinction between two forms of barbarism: the barbarism of the Germans will become the bad barbarism from which we have to be freed; and then there is a good barbarism, or the barbarism of the Gauls, which is the only real source of freedom. This performs two important operations: on the one hand, freedom and Germanity, which had been linked together by Boulainvilliers, are dissociated; on the other, Romanity and absolutism are dissociated. We will, in other words, find in Roman Gaul elements of the freedom which, as all previous theses had more or less accepted, had been imported by the Franks. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 219 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Whereas for Aristotle the sociopolitical milieu of the individual was still the source of ethical valuation, the Stoical interest in the practical actually involved only the individual, and the elevation of the individual to the system’s prescribed ideal became so exclusively the arbiter of Stoical practice that the interrelations of individuals became no more than a means to that ideal, individualistic end. This goal, of course, was defined in content by the idea of a universal Reason that infused all individual beings. Every person was thought to partake in this Reason, and its realization in the individual constituted the Stoical ideal. Transcending all barriers of nationality and social exclusiveness, Reason wove a bond of equality and brotherhood around all human creatures. Thus, the individualism of the Stoics had its complement in cosmopolitanism; the rending of narrower social bonds, which during this period was promoted no less by the political situation than by theoretical contemplation, shifted the center of gravity toward the individual, on the one hand; and on the other, toward that widest circle to which every human belongs simply by virtue of his humanity. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 658 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The elaborations that the principle or ideal of individualism has undergone in the modern era differ according to the accentuation given to the first or the second of these meanings. On the whole, the eighteenth century sought individuality in the form of freedom, the lack of every kind of restraint on personal powers, regardless whether this restraint came from the estates or from the church, whether it was political or economic. But at the same time, the assumption prevailed that once men had been freed from all sociohistorical fetters, they would show themselves to be essentially equal; that “man in general,” along with all the goodness and perfection of his nature, was inherent in every personality, needing only to be emancipated from those distorting and diverting bonds. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 650 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The eighteenth century equated individuality with freedom and assumed natural human equality — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 650; Unlimited individual freedom breeds new repression through natural inequality — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 534; Stoic individualism was complemented by cosmopolitanism rooted in universal Reason. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 658 (+2 more)

Related

• The eighteenth century equated individuality with freedom and assumed natural human equality (similarity 0.85)
• Stoic individualism was complemented by cosmopolitanism rooted in universal Reason. (similarity 0.84)
• Modern individuality values being this specific irreplaceable person, not mere freedom (similarity 0.82)
• Liberated individuals turn from equality toward distinguishing themselves from others (similarity 0.82)
• Theorists can dissociate freedom from any single ethnic origin and reattach it to another (similarity 0.82)
• Eighteenth-century rights theory assumes rights hold even for an isolated single human. (similarity 0.81)
• Individuality and universal equality historically arise as twin reactions to inequality (similarity 0.81)
• The eighteenth century made abstract universal humanity sacred over particular persons (similarity 0.79)
• Eighteenth-century thought held races varied but humanity unified (similarity 0.79)
• Eighteenth-century individualism turned freedom-inequality tension into an ethical and religious paradox (similarity 0.79)
• Unlimited individual freedom breeds new repression through natural inequality (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Theorists can dissociate freedom from any single ethnic origin and reattach it to another #corroborates (0.90) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 219
• Stoic individualism was complemented by cosmopolitanism rooted in universal Reason. #corroborates (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 658
• The eighteenth century equated individuality with freedom and assumed natural human equality #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 650
• Unlimited individual freedom breeds new repression through natural inequality #complicates (0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 534