individualism (n.)
“quality of being distinct or individual, individuality,” 1815, from individual + -ism. Individual:”single object or thing,” c. 1600, from individual (adj.). Meaning “a single human being” (as opposed to a group) is from 1640s. Colloquial sense of “person” attested from 1742. Latin individuum as a noun meant “an atom, indivisible particle,” and in Middle English individuum was used in sense of “individual member of a species” (early 15c.).
Also the name of a social philosophy favoring non-interference of government in lives of individuals (opposed to communism and socialism) first attested 1851 in writings of J.S. Mill.
Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.
The Soul of Man Under Socialism
