What Does the Single Individual Signify? [1951]

This typically robust defence of the importance of the individual and of the conditions necessary for individual initiative and agency to flourish was first published in Danish as “Hvad betyder det enkelte individ?”, Fremtiden, Copenhagen, 6, no. 3 (March 1951): 7–9 (B&R C51.09). Five months later it was reprinted in French as “La Valeur de l’individualité humaine”, Synthèses, Brussels, 6 (Aug. 1951): 360–3. Fremtiden and Synthèses were both monthly reviews of international politics; they were edited, respectively, by Erik Seidenfaden and Maurice Lambilliotte, two stalwart champions of European unity. 23 has not previously appeared in English in its entirety, although paragraphs 2–7 of the twelve-paragraph article match paragraphs 8–13 of 18. However, the fifth paragraph of 23 opens with a sentence (177: 5) present in the Belgian and Danish versions but not in the English-language publication of 18. The reading, “like Boethius”, along with the parenthetical commas enclosing it (see 18, 138: 1), has been omitted from 23 because it refers back to an earlier mention of the Roman philosopher that appears in the New York Times article but not in Fremtiden or Synthèses.