The Place of Individualism in Neighbor-Love

This paper deals with the problems of neighbor-love from an ethical point of view, not from a religious (Christian or Jewish) point of view.It is said that the idea of love occupies a central place in Christianity. Yet, in his book, Christian Neighbor-Love, Garth L. Hallett points out that at the heart of the Christian idea of love a crucial obscurity persists. He assesses the six rival norms of conduct relating self and others; 1. Self-Preference, 2. Parity, 3. Other-Preference, 4. Self-Subordination, 5. Self-Forgetfulness, 6. Self-Denial. He claims the Christian altruistic neighbor-love is expressed in 4, 5, 6and the others are relatively egoistic. Then, he places the view of Ahad Ha\u27am, a Jewish thinker, in 2. Parity, in which he sees egoism and he claims that Ahad Ha\u27am\u27s view is inadequate as the norm of neighbor-love.On the contrary, I claim that Ahad Ha\u27am\u27s view is individualism based on justice. In myopinion, Hallett sees human conducts relating self and others only from egoism/ altruism point of view. The view of individualism is missing in his analysis. This is the cause of undesirable consequences which follow from his altruistic norm of conduct. On the other hand, if we introduce the view of individualism, comparatively desirableconsequences can be produced. Therefore, I claim, individualism must be secured in the place of neighbor-love