ABSTRACT
The neoclassical conception of the atomistic individual originates in Locke’s subjectivist view that was itself the product of Enlightenment dualism. An alternative tradition of thinking rejects the idea that individuals are defined atomistically apart from their relations to one another, rejects the idea that individuals are defined subjectively in terms of their own mental states, and rejects the idea that the world should be seen dualistically in terms of inner subjective and outer objective realms. Rather, individuals are to be understood and explained in terms of how they are embedded in historical social relationships. However, like the neoclassical conception, this alternative conception has also undergone an evolution, one, I argue here, that was similarly driven by its own problematical aspects. Recall the evolution of the subjectivist conception described in Chapter 2. Since that which is truly subjective cannot be understood in the language of science, the cumulative effect of successive attempts within neoclassical economics to scientifically explain the unique inner worlds of individuals ultimately eroded their characterization as subjective beings. Cognitive science was one outcome of this evolution. Compare, then, how the alternative embedded individual conception involves a dilemma of its own. To say that individuals are embedded in historical social relationships is quite close to saying that individuals disappear into those relationships. Indeed, many would argue that the embedded individual conception is not a conception of individuals at all, but rather a proposal to ignore individuals, in order to focus on groups, classes, movements, historical forces, history, and so on. According to this interpretation, in fact, rather than there being two traditions of thinking about the nature of the individual, there
are really just two great traditions of thinking about society-one that is individualist and includes individuals as agents, and one that is collectivist in which it is not individuals that are agents but instead groups, classes, movements, etc.
