Sociedade e individuo

The Individual, Society, and the State: Is ‘Society’ a Mere Phantom?

The whole is more than the sum of its parts

By Stefan Blankertz 
Equity & Freedom

That the whole is more than the sum of its parts is a principle of Gestalt psychology to which I feel bound. But this principle is not limited to psychological processes. Even the concept of ‘property,’ so central to classical liberal and libertarian thought, only makes sense if there is more than one human individual: it has an unavoidably social character. ‘Property’ is a concept pertaining to social relationship. The market and the division of labour associated with it clearly show that the whole is more than the sum of its parts: If everyone muddles through on their own, all the isolated individuals produce much less in total than if they are working together; if there is specialized production but no common exchange, all that work is apparently meaningless and worthless. Of course, the argument also applies the other way round: without the individual and his or her commitment, the whole thing amounts to nothing.
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