THE CLASSICAL ROOTS OF RADICAL INDIVIDUALISM
Roderick T.
Long
a1
a1 Philosophy, Auburn University
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AbstractWhile the classical Greco-Roman tradition is not ordinarily thought of
as associated with radical individualism, many of the central concerns of
such radical individualists as Frédéric Bastiat, Herbert
Spencer, Benjamin Tucker, Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, and Ayn
Rand—including their views on human sociality, spontaneous order,
and the relation between self-interest and non-instrumental concern for
others—are shown to be inheritances from and developments of
Platonic, Aristotelian, Epicurean, and Stoic ideas. Hence those working in
the classical tradition have reason to explore the radical individualist
tradition and vice versa.
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