INDIVIDUALISMO VERSUS COLLETTIVISMO

Abstract

This paper aims at showing that methodological Individualism and methodological Collectivism are alternative approaches for the explanation of social phenomena but there are different reasons (ontological, gnoseological, methodological and ethical-political) in favor of the individualistic method. The problem is not the use of collective concepts, but the ontological and epistemological status attributed to them: for individualists they are sets attributable to individual interactions, they constitute the habitat of intersubjective action and are explained as uninteded consequences of human actions; thereby recognizing man’s freedom and responsability.