[432] LECTURE XXXIV, March 10, 1956 We have discussed the formal ethics^a, so to speak--the fundamental problem of ethics and religion. Today I come to a special section of the general ethical realm, namely personal ethics^b, in contrast to communal ethics; or as we also could say: individual in contrast to

social ethics^c. In both of these realms, the problem "Culture^d and Religion^e" has a large amount of implications and demands a large amount of answers. Let me first give you a survey on what individual ethics means by speaking about different concepts^f of individuality. The word "individualism^g" is used very much as a critical word against special forms of behavior or special structures of society, in our period of history^h. This word is valid to a certain extent--one CAN speak of modern individualism--but it is valid only in a limited way, because

it uses the word "individual" in an undifferentiated, unqualified way. The first thing we must do, when we deal with such a concept as individualism, is to make the qualifications referring to such a term. Individualism can mean three different things. Let me call the one the religiousⁱ concept, the other the rational^j concept, and the third the Renaissance^k concept. These three are by no means identical and must be discussed in a special way, and it is quite possible that SOME of these concepts are to be combined with opposite concepts in different structures. The religious concept is the concept of the infinite value of the individual soul^l in the face of God^m. The word "infinite value" is not directly biblical; the biblical phrase would be, perhaps, "object of the divine love." But this is true of every human being; there are no differentiation