Inventing the individual : the origins of Western liberalism

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Larry Siedentop's latest work offers a profound reexamination of the formation of our moral beliefs and their influence on contemporary Western society. This ambitious book reveals how a moral revolution in the early centuries AD, centered on the discovery of human freedom, sparked a social transformation in the West. The emergence of the individual as a new, equal social role gradually replaced traditional structures based on family, tribe, and caste. Siedentop challenges us to reconsider the evolution of the ideas underpinning modern societies, asserting that the foundations of liberalism—belief in individual liberty, moral equality, and representative government—were established by Christian thinkers in the Middle Ages, who built upon the early church's moral revolution. He posits that it was the contributions of canon lawyers, theologians, and philosophers from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, rather than the Renaissance, that shaped liberal democracy. In contrast, he highlights the existence of alternative belief systems, such as fundamentalist Islam and quasi-capitalist China, which may support populist democracy but lack true liberalism. Siedentop emphasizes that understanding the origins of our liberal ideas is crucial for self-identity in today's world.