People commonly oppose something they call “individualism” against another thing they call “collectivism.” Either they insist these must be “balanced” or else they champion one at the expense of the other.
There are concrete situations where one must make a decision that seems like you are dealing with these competing values of this sort. If a homeless family asks you for some money, and you give it to them, that could be understood as you helping out more people than one (the family) at the expense of one (yourself). But this doesn’t strike me as a plausible justification for thinking in these general terms.
I think people forget that there is no real individualism without some kind of personal integrity over time. People have a variety of wants or needs that are real or perceived. If they don’t develop the faculty for weighing consequences between courses of action, their lives will not go well and will not last long. Consider Frederic Bastiat’s use of the fictional character of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, stuck on a deserted island:
“You remember how Robinson Crusoe managed to make a board when he had no saw?”
“Yes. He cut down a tree; then, by trimming the trunk, first on one side and then on the other, with his axe, he reduced it to the thickness of a plank.”
“And that cost him a great deal of labor?”
“Two full weeks.”
“And what did he live on during that time?”
“On his provisions.”
“And what happened to the axe?”
“It became very dull as a result.”
Bastiat is dealing with a particular economic policy. But the way he uses the story in this exchange can be extrapolated in other directions.
Crusoe wanted and needed to eat. Since he had provisions, he could have simply consumed them. But if he gave thought about the future, he realized he would have ended up being in the same place he was now, except a little older and with no readily-available food. So, even though he enjoyed leisure (we assume), he put that enjoyment aside to produce goods that would benefit him later, either when he would be forced to devote more time to gathering food or to help him in gathering that food.
This shows us that individualism is not simply the same as “selfish” desires. Solomon describes extreme selfish desires as self-sabotage, not anything like what we know as real individualism. “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth” (Proverbs 19:24 ESV). The only way an individual survives and prospers is by subduing desires to longer-term interests. If Crusoe devotes time and effort to making a fish trap, he is making a trade-off. He is essentially trading with his future self.
[If you haven’t already, check out my book, Solomon Says.]
When a person is a member of a society, he can gain a great deal more from these trade-offs, because they can involve others. “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 ESV). But these transactions are not solely a product of “the collective.” They inhere in people even when they are alone and isolated if they have different options in how they exert themselves (or don’t) and how they spend their time.
The etymology of the word “individual,” communicates that a person is indivisible. But the Bible seems to disagree. A person’s desires have to serve or give way to organized ends. Otherwise, that person is at war with himself, and therefore with others.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your pleasures are at war among your members? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:1–3 ESV
Solomon warns of people who, precisely because of their selfish desires, hurt themselves. “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor” (Proverbs 21:25). Fundamentally, wisdom involves taking care of yourself (including those for whom you are responsible). “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (Proverbs 13:4 ESV).
Wisdom is about skillful governing. One governs oneself by ruling over one’s “pleasures” rather than letting them divide you.