Against Individualism

This book is both a critique of the concept of the rights-holding, free, autonomous individual and attendant ideology dominant in the contemporary West, and an account of an alternative view, that of the role-bearing, interrelated responsible person of classical Confucianism, suitably modified for addressing the manifold problems of today.

Henry Rosemont Jr. is George B. & Willma Reeves Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts Emeritus at St. Mary's College of Maryland and Visiting Scholar of Religious Studies at Brown University.

Prologue Chapter 1: Prolegomena Chapter 2: Doing Ethics in a Global Context Chapter 3: On the Existence of the Self, and Self-Identity Chapter 4: Normative Dimensions of Belief in an Individual Self Chapter 5: The Apotheosis of the Individual Self: Libertarianism Chapter 6: Toward an Ethics of Roles Chapter 7: Progressive Family Values Chapter 8: On Religion and Ritual Chapter 9: The Religious Dimensions of Role-Bearing Family Lives Chapter 10: Role Ethics Beyond the Family Epilogue