screws or milk bottles. We have to accept the fact that for human beings 

 variation is itself normal. 



When Are Individual Differences important? 



The Individual and His Individuality Human beings are not satisfied 

 to exist merely as separate individuals, like the separate ants in an anthill. 

 Each of us wants to be recognized as a distinct person, with his own name, 

 and never mistaken for anybody else. Each of us wants a chance to live 

 as a unique person, to be his own self. It is no doubt true that one's dis- 

 tinctiveness comes out of the particular combination of his many traits. It 

 is true that we sometimes wish that we had a little more of this or a little 

 less of that. But in the end we feel that the selfness is the important thing. 



We get definite information about every detail by comparing, weighing 

 and measuring. But since we most frequently use numbers in trade and 

 finance, many of us come to think that more or le'is of anything must also 

 mean better or worse, or of greater or less worth. We are influenced also 

 by the fact that in many of our everyday activities and relationships quan- 

 tity is of great importance — running faster, for example, or lifting a greater 

 weight. Yet the distinctive quality is probably the "whole self". The varia- 

 tions in detail have to be accepted — both in ourselves and in others — as 

 perfectly "normal", or typical, for the species. Variation is not a technical 

 term with some mysterious meaning, but a direct description of a general 

 fact that we can observe all around us. 



Equality and Individuality In our kind of democracy we hear a great 

 deal about "equality". This term suggests something that we feel is im- 

 portant. Yet it often confuses us, for we know that actually we are un- 

 equal: we differ in regard to every trait that we take the trouble to measure. 

 On the other hand, being different does not necessarily make one "better" 

 or "worse!'. The best mathematician may be poor in languages. The best 

 orator may be afraid of the dark. The great musician may be color-blind. 

 The great financier may be a poor companion at home or among friends. 



We consider each human being important for himself, not for any 

 special talent or virtue he may have. We consider it necessary that each 

 person have the opportunity to live the kind of life that is most satisfying 

 to himself. This means, of course, that all others must have equal oppor- 

 tunity. It is in this sense, then, that we are all equal. However much we 

 differ physically and intellectually, we are equal as members of the family 

 or of the nation ; we are equal as persons or as members of a religious group. 



If we were all actually equal in every way, the question of equal oppor- 

 tunity or of democracy would have no meaning at all. Equality of oppor- 

 tunity, in the sense required by democracy, is important precisely because 



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