Do you know what an individual is?

Each person is called individuallythe individual. Well, a person with a strong character is called a person, a person with a core. The concepts of "individual", "individuality", "personality" are often used as equivalent words. However, they are, as it were, synonymous, from the point of view of philosophy, they have significant differences. The fact is that all these concepts can characterize a person from different sides. So what is an individual, and what is a person or individuality? What are the characteristics of each of them? What do these concepts have in common?

What is an individual?

This concept comes from the Latin wordindividuum, which is translated into Russian as "indivisible." It was first introduced by the Roman emperor Cicero as the designation of the Greek term "atom". That's why he translates so. The ancient Greek atomists Leucippus and Democritus explain the notion of the individual as a set of original elements of being that are specific in quality, which have definite position and form. But the ancient Roman scientist Seneca meant this term for separate beings, with the further separation of which they may lose their specificity. This word is the antipode of "aggregate". From the point of view of philosophy, the individual is a separate individual, a human being who is the representative of Homo Sapiens (a reasonable person) and which represents the unity of social and biological. The individual has a set of specific qualities inherent only in the human being, and he is also the bearer of such psychological and social traits as reason, will, consciousness, activity, etc. Thanks to all these qualities, he is identified with others like him - and they all together constitute social groups, society, etc.

What is individuality?

This word also comes from the Latin wordindividuum. Despite the fact that these two concepts have the same roots, nevertheless the questions: "What is an individual?" And "What is an individuality?" Are not equivalent. If an individual is called a separate individual, which by its qualities is similar to other individuals of the same group, gender, etc., then individuality refers to the qualities of a person, unique, peculiar, unique to him, by which he is distinguished from other people belonging, less, to his group. This concept includes two types of properties: inherited and acquired.

The first include those qualities of a person that were inherited by genetic means, and the acquired ones are those qualities that were formed under the influence of society.

What is personality?

Surely many people have heard this expression: "They are not born a person, they become a person". That's where the difference between this concept and the two previous ones lies! When asked what an individual is, it is much easier to give a clarifying answer. The individual is born, but one has to become a person. The process of the formation of the personality is carried out by the individual's assimilation of the cultural and social experience of a particular society. And this process is called socialization. Personality - a separate individual, who has a worldview, moral principles, values. Personality is the essence of man, which is the totality of his internal properties.