individualism

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French individualisme, equivalent to individual + -ism.

1. The tendency for a person to act without reference to others, particularly in matters of style, fashion or mode of thought.

   “He believes that self-improvement and its growing popularity are symptoms of what he calls individualism.”

2. The moral stance, political philosophy, or social outlook that promotes independence and self-reliance of individual people, while opposing the interference with each person's choices by society, the state, or any other group or institution.

   “[A]nd that one great and all-important occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the rise of self-consciousness — that is, the coming of the mind to a more or less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the Self-centred attitude in human thought and action.”

   “Republicans and Democrats interpret individualism differently, and those divides are more pronounced than ever in our deeply polarized political climate.”

3. The doctrine that only individual things are real.
4. The doctrine that nothing exists but the individual self.