John Dewey’s Project of “the New Individualism” in the Context of History of the Idea of Individualism in American Thought

Katarzyna Kremplewska

In this essay I look at the history of the idea of individualism in American thought of the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, I cri­tically examine John Dewey’s attempt at a “reconstruction” of individualism as contained in his book Individualism Old and New, which I contrast with some other, moderate and selective attempts to defend some versions of individualism. I attempt to show how a narrow and biased critique of individualism may rob it of its rich meaning, and discredit it along with the values attached to it. An example of such a “strategy” is a tendency to identify individualism with social atomisation or egoism.

DOI: 10.37240/AHFiMS.2022.66.67.11

66-kremplewska

Keywords: individualism · atomisation · John Dewey · pragmatism · autonomy · humanism