Why is liberalism so concerned with the individual?

In order to ‘counter’ the anarchistic tendencies of the argument above, it is necessary to briefly consider the liberal view of the state.  The aim of the state in liberal thought is to uphold the rights of the individual.  To liberal philosophers such as Locke this meant the state had a duty to uphold the rights he described a ‘natural rights’ but did not have the right to infringe upon individual freedoms further than this.  One of the natural rights identified by Locke was property.  The concept of property as a right can be seen to have stemmed from the liberal belief in the individual. The ultimate piece of ‘property’ owned by every individual is their body.  They have the right to use it as they choose and in liberal theory it is thought that they would generally use their body in the way that the mind considers to be rational.  With this body, they will generally use it in a way which increases their material wealth in other ways, i.e. through working. The ownership of the body is therefore the first step on the road to the ownership of material wealth and consequently property.

Another reason to consider the liberal interest in the rights of the individual is to consider the times from which liberalism originated.  Beginning in the early 17th century, it is a philosophy which developed as society was changing.  The last vestiges of the old European feudal system had been stripped away and with the change in society came a change in attitude to the members of that society.  Before the ‘birth’ of liberalism people were defined, not as individuals, but as members of a particular group.  A person was ‘a knight’ or belonged to ‘the smith family’, the privileges of that individual therefore depended upon his membership of particular groups.  The feudal nature of society pre-1500 served only to support with this system as being designed by god.  It was not until after the breakdown of the feudal system that the concept of the individual, and consequently, individual rights, began to develop. Whether it was the emergence of the concept of the individual which gave birth to liberalism or whether it was the beginning of liberal thought which sparked the concept of the individual is fairly mush a ‘chicken and egg’ argument.  Whatever its answer, what remains is that the concept of liberalism and the concept of the individual remained entwined.  

The main reason that liberalism is so concerned with the individual is that in their belief, everything stems from the individual.  The individual precedes society and will outlive society.  As a consequence, the individual is more important than society as society is dependant on the individuals to survive.  Without individualism, there can be no individual rights and so the foundation stones of liberalism would be stripped away.  The liberal concept of the sovereignty of the individual is at the heart of all the other concepts associated with liberal thought.  Without the idea of the rights of the individual, there can be no argument against a state becoming too powerful.  Without a belief in an individual’s right to express an opinion, there can be no belief in tolerance or pluralism.  Without the belief that individuals are rational, there can be no support of democracy.  Without the belief in the individual as a self contained ‘entity’ which is largely independent of outside influences, there can be no belief in the concept of individual rights.  It is clear, therefore, that everything that liberalism, classical and modern, stands for stems from their belief in the individual and individual freedom.  Without this belief there is no supporting argument for any of their other key ideological concepts.  It is also their belief in individual rights which encourages them to advocate a certain level of state interference.  If they simply believed in the individual, they would be anarchists.  It is their support of individual rights which encourages them to support the view that a certain level of state intervention is necessary to preserve those rights.