Blackwell Reference Online

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L ogic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, ethics, political philosophy [from Latin individuus , indivisible, employed by Boethius to translate Greek atom , uncuttable or undividable; a single distinct entity or unit which is incapable of being divided actually or conceptually while preserving its identity] In a standard sense, an individual is something that can be individuated , that is, counted or picked out in language and thus be distinguished from other things. In logic, individuals are things that can be subjects of sentences in the first-order predicate calculus , in contrast with predicates or functions . Individuals are often taken to be identical with particulars , but there is a significant difference. All particulars are individuals, but not all individuals are particulars. What we pick out in language are not merely various kinds of particular things, but also general things such as justice, wisdom, beauty. In moral, political, and social thought, an individual is a person , in contrast to a group or society. “So anything whatever can appear as a logical subject, an individual.” Strawson, Individuals ... log in or subscribe to read full text