> Why do you assume this is an original idea of mine? In fact, it
> isn't: read some Foucault, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, etc. If you
> want to get self-referential, my post above is an excellent example
> of the point I was trying to make in my post above!
Why do you assume that reaching it by thinking for yourself in the sense I specified implies that the conclusion that "individualism ... is a crucial precipitate of socioeconomic relations" must be an original idea of yours? As I explicitly pointed out, that sense of thinking for yourself is consistent with arriving at conclusions via "social influences" such as reading and being rationally persuaded by others.
This isn't what you mean by the claim that individualism is the product of social influences, is it?
Ted