Die älteste Individualisierung und die Beziehung des Individuums zu Natur und Gesellschaft

This paper discusses the oldest phenomena of humankind's individualization, i.e. of its partial emancipation from the natural environment and the surrounding society. The major focus is on the differences between the possibilities of individualization (or atomization) of the human race existing in antiquity and those existing today. The belief of ancient people in certain cosmic order fostered in their minds an idea of a unity consisting of the gods, people, and nature. This unity finds its reflection not only in common religious rituals, but also in ancient law Systems. In Greek and Roman antiquity, freedom of human thinking was, as I believe, comparatively consummate; nevertheless, there was a partial impediment to the process of individualization, as we understand it today, consisting in the religious perception of the world. The sacral and the secular were always related concepts in both antiquity and Christian times. In Greek poleis as well as in the Roman State, natural order together with the prosperity of the whole society was the responsibility of an individual, which was the case already in the ancient state-like structures of the Near East.