Abstract

The author wishes to rehabilitate a form of individualism qui would be defined by a capacity to speak out, by the possession of a subjective voice and by what R. W. Emerson called self-reliance. In this approach, radical democracy can be defined in linguistic terms, those of expression and individual action, made possible by consent, as well as by the possibility of dissent and disobedience to the rule. Individuality can then be redefined in terms of difficulty of expression and obscurity to oneself and to others, rather than in terms of evidence and clarity