The Emerging Concept of the Individual Self and Its Impact

For much of human history, the locus of self-identity and authority has been found in the group or collective and not in the individual self. The transition to a sense of an individual self, and the means by which this took place, can be recounted in a series of developments in Western Civilization (Perry, 2015).

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man

The evolutionary process begins with humans as part of small family and kin groups that provided one’s identity as an individual person. With time, the larger social groups composed of several or large number of family groups allied together and formed as related clans and tribes. Personal identity and authority at this stage is still found at the community level of organization, even where a leader acts to make decisions for the group. It is not until later in the growth of Western civilization that the notion appears of an individual person, as a free agent who sees identity in themselves.

As discussed above, Augustine, in his Confessions can write of personal and autobiographical matters and speak of personal sin and personal free will. This shows a separate sense of self, responsibility, and agency from his family, peers, the church, and other cultural and social influences.

Martin Luther, though a member of a religious order and the larger Catholic Church, appealed to individual conscience as the authority of scripture—not the Pope or councils. His individual conscience was the source of this objections to the Church’s sale of indulgences and to other issues of faith.

Machiavelli can advocate that the political leader of the state should do what is in his own self-interest in deciding matters affecting the state. The trend to place one’s sense of authority in one’s own person and actions becomes the trajectory that continues and increases into the modern and contemporary world.

It is the Renaissance era, with its flowering of science, technology, and the arts, that brings an explosion of new knowledge, often upsetting prevailing views. Specifically, scientific development emerges to counter scientific beliefs held by the Catholic Church about the natural world and wider universe. Humanistic thought and philosophy coincide with the rise of universities, further challenging the view of the church in a variety of areas. Luther’s arrival and challenge to the authority of the Church shatters Christianity’s unity in the West and creates competing camps within the faith. The printing of the bible in the vernacular and the concept of the priesthood of all believers shifts the authority to interpret the Bible into the hands of the individual person of faith. No longer is there a monopoly on settling religious matters.

In the political sphere, the creation of the Magna Carta set in motion a movement to enlarge personal liberties and rights, even as citizens in England, France, and the American colonies sought respite from abuses of kingly power. Political debate in England saw Sir Edward Coke argue that the rights of the Magna Carta were in effect ancient rights and meant to be fundamental rights for the liberty of all English subjects.

Such ideas animated the writers of the Declaration of Independence as the 13 English colonies in North America asserted their right to be free of taxes over which they had no say and for what they felt was the abuse of power by King George III. Following the positive end to the War of Independence, the newly formed Congress of the United States passed a number of amendments including a Bill of Rights that was the logical conclusion of the Magna Carta as to personal liberties before the law.

As the growth of capitalism and trade expand, a new merchant class with wealth and power shifts the balance of power among heads of state and the ruling class that supports them. Men with their mind on making fortunes often lead in the colonization of the New World, opening trade with the Far East and establishing manufacturing enterprises to sell goods internationally. It is no longer only kings, popes, emperors and political elites who hold all of the influence. We witness growing cracks in the authority of the corporate powers as the standard bearers of the status quo. What develops in this new era paves the way for the coming industrial age and the creation of the industrial barons and corporations formed to seize markets and control capital. It also witnesses the enhanced status of individuals who act on their own agency, initiative, and self-empowerment.

Machiavelli’s THE PRINCE and the Autonomy of the City-State

Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli by Santi di Tito

Niccolò Machiavelli sought personal advancement with the House of Medici by authoring The Prince (1532). It was a treatise on state craft; detailing a utilitarian approach to the acquisition of power, the creation of the state, as well as its preservation and maintenance. He addresses as well the character of the ruler (the Prince) and those actions and behaviors that are best calculated to achieve success and longevity in ruling. As a result of the broad distribution of this work, Machiavelli’s name became associated with that which is unscrupulous and devious in politics (Vatter, 2013).

The notion of an individual who was committed to ruling pragmatically over others was a new and significant contribution by Machiavelli to political theory. In his day, the prevailing notion was that a divine order oversaw the destiny of all, including the sovereign and the prince, to which Machiavelli offered a different view. He advocated that it was the duty of the individual ruler to marshal his nerve, skill, and cunning to be the most successful he could be (Nederman, 2019).

In the context of his day when political instability reigned in Italy and the threat of being defeated by neighboring states was real, Machiavelli called for a kind of leadership that was pragmatically based in realism (realpolitik in our parlance) not on morality based on one’s faith. From his perspective, believing in Christian values only made leaders weak. He called on the successful ruler to rule from strength and power without regard to moral value. The goal for this prince was acting on behalf of a political stability that benefitted the welfare of the many. His view was thus a utilitarian position that ensured that the desired end of stability was justifiable. In response to a question as to whether human nature is good or evil, Niccolò Machiavelli would respond, “of course, it’s evil, therefore the wise ruler must take appropriate action to gain his intended objective.” He is remembered for saying: “A good person is bound to be ruined among the great numbers who are not good. Whatever one needs therefore to do justifies the means” (Nederman, 2019).

Literature’s New Day and the Rise of the Vernacular

The rise of a new day in literature may have many beginnings, but chief among them is the publishing of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400 (Chaucer & Ackroyd, 2015). Works in his time were written in the language of the aristocracy, which was Latin abroad, or French in Britain following the Norman invasion (1066). Chaucer broke with this tradition by writing his 24 morality tales in Middle English, the vernacular (spoken) language of his time and place. His work won wide popularity, and writing in the vernacular came to be more common. Dante published The Divine Comedy (1320) as did Machiavelli with The Prince (1535). Martin Luther translated and saw to the publishing of the complete Bible in German (1534). Martin Coverdale is credited with publishing the first complete English Bible (1535). If the printing press (1450) was a timely invention in search of authors, it was not only Martin Luther of Saxony whose work became widespread and catapulted the author to fame or notoriety. Those like Machiavelli and Miguel Cervantes greatly benefited.

Cervantes is credited with authoring the first modern novel, Don Quixote (1605), which did not make its author wealthy, but subsequently became the first world “bestseller,” translated into some 60 languages. In the story, Don Quixote is so inspired by the tales of brave knights that in his personal fantasy world he becomes one. The errant “knight” and his faithful servant Sancho Panza then embark on a series of adventures. Cervantes’s tales have inspired numerous modern authors and works based on his plot, including the successful musical Man of La Mancha. Cervantes introduced a connected sense of plot advancement and more fully developed character, which was innovative in his time. As an author he criticized the contemporary idea of chivalry and introduced in his main characters what he saw as the dual character traits possessed by humans: the idealistic and the practical (Cervantes Saavedra, 2019).