Personalism vs. Individualism: A Critical Historical Perspective

The paper examines the main theoretical differences between personalism and individualism by referring to the evolution of Catholic (social) economic thought. By comparing the early insights of social Catholicism with recent personalist thinking, the paper shows the continuity in most of the philosophical and epistemological standings of these theories and the differences with standard economics. It is argued that the fundamental misrepresentation of the economic agent in contemporary individualism is due to materialism, voluntarism, and positivism, which are responsible for present-day misconceptions of the role of the acting agent in the economy as well as for the progressive corruption of economic affairs.