Individuals

Seeing oneself as an autonomous individual is not a natural state for human beings. This vision of the self had to be engineered and battled for, and it’s a pretty recent construction.

The reason why it was constructed is that it’s needed for the development of capitalism. Capitalism requires individuals who are alienated from the fruits and the process of their labor, from each other, and from nature.

Our whole vision of ourselves as freely acting individuals who are separate from everything else and don’t recognize any natural order that exists beyond themselves is completely manufactured and very recent.

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