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Identitarians versus Universalists, Collectivists versus Individualists
Most attempts to divide humanity into two groups come from a belief that there’s an eternal war of us versus them, and the only way to end the war is for us to defeat them by any means necessary. The common grounds for “us” are social identity groups based on race, gender, religion, and tribe.
Humans have a strong instinct to be identitarians. It gives us a simple way to know where we fit in the universe. Responding to identitarianism with counter-identitarianism is common—black nationalists and separatist feminists are responses to white racists and male chauvinists—but the world’s greatest thinkers reject fighting one form of identitarianism with another form. They choose universalism:
“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” —Thomas Paine
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one.” —St. Paul
“Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” — Eugene V. Debs
“The wise man…
