ABSTRACT
THE FIRST READING IN THIS PART is an excerpt from a book called Individualism, which was
first published in 1973. In the book, Stephen Lukes traces the semantic history of individu-
alism, before distinguishing some separate ways in which the term can be taken. It is worth
bearing in mind the multiplicity of doctrines that fall under this general label, and Lukes
distinguishes eleven distinct strands. They are: the dignity of man, autonomy, privacy, self-
development, the abstract individual, political individualism, economic individualism,
religious individualism, ethical individualism, epistemological individualism, and finally – our
concern – methodological individualism.
