A pluralist defense of individuality: J. N. Figgis and the communities in the Modern State

Abstract

One of the leading thinkers of British pluralism in the 19th century was John Neville Figgis, author of a pluralist philosophy of social order that rivaled the liberal ideas of his day. This work presents the political ideas of Figgis, particularly as they were exposed in his work Churches in the Modern State (1913), with an emphasis on the pluralistic position, and the personality of the communities in relation to the State and to the individual. To show how he developed his thought, this essay contrasts his ideas present in the aforementioned book with the liberal ideas of John Stuart Mill, in particular his On Liberty (1859). The work concludes that, against Mill and his state-guaranteed individualism, Figgis defends the autonomy of intermediate groups to safeguard the individuality of the person.