Adrian C-1

Q: Through out the ages and years, why has social distortion become inevitable, altering the ideal definitions of words of former civilizations?


A:"Individualism has a bad name today, and the term has come to be connected with egotism and selfishness. But the individualism of which we speak in contrast to socialism and all other forms of collectivism has no necessary connection with these. Only gradually in the course of this book shall we be able to make clear the contrast between the two opposing principles. But the essential features of that individualism which, from elements provided by Christianity and the philosophy of classical antiquity, was first fully developed during the Renaissance and has since grown and spread into what we know as Western civilization--are the respect for the individual man qua man, that is, the recognition of his own views and tastes as supreme in his own sphere, however narrowly that may be circumscribed, and the belief that it is desirable that men should develop their own individual gifts and bents. 'Freedom' and 'liberty' are now words so worn with use and abuse that one must hesitate to employ them to express the ideals for which they stood during that period. 'Tolerance' is, perhaps, the only word which still preserves the full meaning of the principle which only in recent times has again been in decline, to disappear completely with the rise of the totalitarian state. The gradual transformation of a rigidly organized hierarchic system into one where men could at least attempt to shape their own life, where man gained the opportunity of knowing and choosing between different forms of life, is closely associated with the growth of commerce."(hayek,17-18).