Meaning of word individual

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about individuality in general. For Strawson’s metaphysics as described in his book: Individuals, see P. F. Strawson. For other uses, see Individual (disambiguation).

An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one’s own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in diverse fields, including biology, law, and philosophy.

Etymology[edit]

From the 15th century and earlier (and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics) individual meant «indivisible», typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning «a person». From the 17th century on, individual has indicated separateness, as in individualism.^[1]

Law[edit]

Although individuality and individualism are commonly considered to mature with age/time and experience/wealth, a sane adult human being is usually considered by the state as an «individual person» in law, even if the person denies individual culpability («I followed instructions»).

An individual person is accountable for their actions/decisions/instructions, subject to prosecution in both national and international law, from the time that they have reached age of majority, often though not always more or less coinciding with the granting of voting rights, responsibility for paying tax, military duties, and the individual right to bear arms (protected only under certain constitutions).

Philosophy[edit]

Buddhism[edit]

In Buddhism, the concept of the individual lies in anatman, or «no-self.» According to anatman, the individual is really a series of interconnected processes that, working together, give the appearance of being a single, separated whole. In this way, anatman, together with anicca, resembles a kind of bundle theory. Instead of an atomic, indivisible self distinct from reality, the individual in Buddhism is understood as an interrelated part of an ever-changing, impermanent universe (see Interdependence, Nondualism, Reciprocity).

Empiricism[edit]

Early empiricists such as Ibn Tufail^[2] in early 12th century Islamic Spain, and John Locke in late 17th century England, introduced the idea of the individual as a tabula rasa («blank slate»), shaped from birth by experience and education. This ties into the idea of the liberty and rights of the individual, society as a social contract between rational individuals, and the beginnings of individualism as a doctrine.

Hegel[edit]

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel regarded history as the gradual evolution of Mind as it tests its own concepts against the external world.^[3] Each time the mind applies its concepts to the world, the concept is revealed to be only partly true, within a certain context; thus the mind continually revises these incomplete concepts so as to reflect a fuller reality (commonly known as the process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis). The individual comes to rise above their own particular viewpoint,^[4] and grasps that they are a part of a greater whole^[5] insofar as they are bound to family, a social context, and/or a political order.

Existentialism[edit]

With the rise of existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard rejected Hegel’s notion of the individual as subordinated to the forces of history. Instead, he elevated the individual’s subjectivity and capacity to choose their own fate. Later Existentialists built upon this notion. Friedrich Nietzsche, for example, examines the individual’s need to define his/her own self and circumstances in his concept of the will to power and the heroic ideal of the Übermensch. The individual is also central to Sartre’s philosophy, which emphasizes individual authenticity, responsibility, and free will. In both Sartre and Nietzsche (and in Nikolai Berdyaev), the individual is called upon to create their own values, rather than rely on external, socially imposed codes of morality.

Objectivism[edit]

Ayn Rand’s Objectivism regards every human as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to their own life, a right derived from their nature as a rational being. Individualism and Objectivism hold that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation or peaceful coexistence among humans, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights — and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members. The principle of individual rights is the only moral base of all groups or associations. Since only an individual man or woman can possess rights, the expression «individual rights» is a redundancy (which one has to use for purposes of clarification in today’s intellectual chaos), but the expression «collective rights» is a contradiction in terms. Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).^[6][7]

Biology[edit]

In biology, the question of the individual is related to the definition of an organism, which is an important question in biology and philosophy of biology, despite there having been little work devoted explicitly to this question.^[8] An individual organism is not the only kind of individual that is considered as a «unit of selection».^[8] Genes, genomes, or groups may function as individual units.^[8]

Asexual reproduction occurs in some colonial organisms so that the individuals are genetically identical. Such a colony is called a genet, and an individual in such a population is referred to as a ramet. The colony, rather than the individual, functions as a unit of selection. In other colonial organisms the individuals may be closely related to one another but differ as a result of sexual reproduction.

One of the most accepted hypotheses is the definition of an organism that emerged from Piast’s lather of lifeness. According to this idea, life can be described as a phenomenon (Continuum of self-maintainable information) and its individual organism can be described as a distinct element of this continuum. The ability to define entity boundaries is a key trait of distinctness, which can be achieved either through physical means, such as maintaining an open system through a cell, or through informational means, such as maintaining transmission to another host as seen in parasitic entities like viruses.^[9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Gracie, Jorge J. E. (1988) Individuality: An Essay on the Foundations of Metaphysics. State University of New York Press.
• Klein, Anne Carolyn (1995) Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self. ISBN 0-8070-7306-7.

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• individuall (obsolete)

Etymology[edit]

PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Medieval Latin indīviduālis, from Latin indīviduum (“an indivisible thing”), neuter of indīviduus (“indivisible, undivided”), from in + dīviduus (“divisible”), from dīvidō (“divide”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪndɪˈvɪd͡ʒ(ʊ)əl/, /ˌɪndə-/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪndɪˈvɪd͡ʒʊ(ə)l/, /ɪndɪˈvɪdjʊ(ə)l/

Noun[edit]

individual (plural individuals)

1. A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.

   He is an unusual individual.

2. (law) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
   • 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

     Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].

3. An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.

   • 2006, Steven French, “Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory”, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy‎^[1]:

     It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals.
4. (statistics) An element belonging to a population.

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

individual (comparative more individual, superlative most individual)

1. Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.

   • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:

     Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.

   As we can’t print them all together, the individual pages will have to be printed one by one.

2. Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.

   individual personal pension; individual cream cakes

3. Not divisible without losing its identity.

Synonyms[edit]

• (relating to a single person or thing): single, self-standing
• (intended for a single person or thing): personal, single

Antonyms[edit]

• (relating to a single person or thing): collective
• (intended for a single person or thing): group, joint, shared

[edit]

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• individual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “individual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• «individual» in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 161.

Catalan[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /in.di.vi.duˈal/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /in.di.bi.duˈal/

Adjective[edit]

individual (masculine and feminine plural individuals)

1. individual

Derived terms[edit]

• individualisme
• individualista
• individualitzar
• individualment

[edit]

• individu
• individualitat

Further reading[edit]

• “individual” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Galician[edit]

Adjective[edit]

individual m or f (plural individuais)

1. individual

Derived terms[edit]

• individualismo
• individualista
• individualizar
• individualmente

[edit]

• individuo
• individualidade

Further reading[edit]

• “individual” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Portuguese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• Hyphenation: in‧di‧vi‧du‧al

Adjective[edit]

individual m or f (plural individuais)

1. individual

Derived terms[edit]

• individualismo
• individualista
• individualmente

Further reading[edit]

• “individual” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French individuel.

Adjective[edit]

individual m or n (feminine singular individuală, masculine plural individuali, feminine and neuter plural individuale)

1. individual

Declension[edit]

[edit]

• individualism
• individualist
• individualitate

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /indibiˈdwal/ [ĩn̪.d̪i.β̞iˈð̞wal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: in‧di‧vi‧dual

Adjective[edit]

individual (plural individuales)

1. individual
2. case-by-case
3. one-on-one (e.g., relationship or bond)
4. one-man (e.g., a one-man show)
5. personal, individualized

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

Noun[edit]

individual m (plural individuales)

1. place mat

Further reading[edit]

• “individual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

If they are parts of an individual, plants also are subject to considerable changes during their _individual_ lives. ❋ Charles Darwin (1845)

‘Although there exists nothing IN NATURE except individual bodies, exhibiting distinct individual _effects, according to individual_ ❋ Delia Bacon (1835)

But because the will has here become individual it must be deceived in such a manner for it to discern by the sense of the _individual_ what the sense of the species has presented to it; in other words, imagine it is pursuing ends concerning the individual, when in reality it is pursuing merely general ends (using the word general in its strictest sense). ❋ Arthur Schopenhauer (1824)

There are individual cases in which I’ve agreed with the “Catholic League”: When *individual* Catholics who are no longer around to defend themselves are slandered; or when tax-money is used for bigotted “artisitc” purposes. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Individual Responsibility: Inherent in the ideas of John Locke in the concept that the individual is the government. ❋ Unknown (2009)

But what voting doesn’t do for the individual is allow him to influence who gets elected. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Those of us within the Elders of Sodom see a cross and it may not trouble us, we may even prefer to assume the individual is actually wholly tolerant, but this is despite it being a symbol which says to us, “I disapprove of your sexuality; I subscribe to a belief system which condemns your actions as mortal sins.” ❋ Hal Duncan (2010)

In any of these circumstances, if the officer develops reasonable suspicion that the individual is an illegal alien, the obligation that Kobach discusses kicks in. ❋ Unknown (2010)

If the individual is acquitted, THEN, and only then should the state hold hearings as to whether to deny the individual the role of being a parent. ❋ Unknown (2010)

The source told CNN, Given who the individual is and how people can perceive things, it is interesting. ❋ Unknown (2009)

But a morality that focuses solely on the individual does not consider that the individual is also a citizen in a community, a country, a world, a web of interconnection whose integrity depends on caring for each other as we care for ourselves. ❋ Birute Regine (2010)

This dullness of vision regarding the importance of the general welfare to the individual is the measure of the failure of our schools and churches to teach the spiritual significance of genuine democracy. ❋ Unknown (2010)

It seems this individual is attempting to stop some one, me from taking an active part in bringing this missing home! ❋ Unknown (2010)

Criteria are not met for Conduct Disorder, and, if the individual is age 18 years or older, criteria are not met for Antisocial personality disorder. ❋ Unknown (2009)

If this individual is to be the leader of this country will she lead us to total defeat. ❋ Unknown (2008)

The agency until that time had dealt with what we call individual cases-individuals fleeing persecution. ❋ Unknown (2010)

And in this model, the individual is at the center, rather than the services he or she uses. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Def1) Jane- «I love you so much, Bill, you’re just such an individual»
Bill- «What? I’m not doing anything special, I’m just living life»
Ellen- «I’m an individual. I’m not controlled by the [mindless drone] that is mainstream culture. I don’t get my ideas by watching MTV like everyone else. I listen to [Arcade Fire]. I have a red streak in my hair. Why are people such sheep?»
Drederick- «Bitch shut the fuck up, you and your friends all look the same and every high school has a group of you sorry losers. You [arn’t] unique, and you arn’t individual»
Def2) Everyone is an individual. But not everyone realizes that, so we get cultural bullshit from a few lame high school kids. ❋ Malcolm X-Terminator (2008)

individual example- catholic person likes hardcore, buys at [american eagle],and doesnt go for rules. basically not like some idiots who go i cant buy at [abercrombie] cuz its for [preps]. ❋ Tbs Freak (2005)

«[Remember] [Johnny], you are an individual, just [like everyone] else.» ❋ Scrooby (2006)

I wore a [black shirt] today.
[Next day] a [white shirt]. ❋ Insert Name Here4446 (2005)

Bitch: [i like your shoes].individual: thanks dog, they were only [five bucks]!!
Bitch: where’d you get them?individual: er, hot topic, lame i know haha. i dont really prefer the whole goth scene and that store, but i liked the shoes.
(Bitch takes [mental note])
…the next day
Bitch: look at my shoes dog.individual: those are the ones i was weraing yesterday.
Bitch: i know i got them at hot topic.individual: fuck. ❋ NewSLANG (2007)

an [individual person] or an individual [object] ❋ UrbandictionaryGottheit (2016)

Person1 : [Do you] like a [new job]?
Person2 : No . It’s my individual [problem]. ❋ A_Off (2020)

[UD] made me put this here for [pepole] who need an [example], individual ❋ Dinkymcsinky (2008)

John: ummm, dude? why are you doing that?
[Finn]: why not?
John: because the [popular people] say that that’s not cool!
Finn: i don’t care what they think. they aren’t the boss of me!
John: wow. that’s awesome. you’re an individual, aren’t you?
Finn: i don’t like [labels], bro.
John yup, you’re an individual alright ❋ A-person_yay (2014)

[Fall out boy] are awesome, because [Im] individual…. Just [like everyone] else! ❋ TomCuk (2007)