Soulism is a system of ethics that inherits both Individualism and Collectivism, derived from Egoism and Communalism, respectively. To many, this seems to be an oxymoron. However, when considering the ability to separate economic policies from social ones, it becomes apparent that there could be a way to have both function together. Despite the fact both are seen as polar opposites, one of the simplest ways to implement both together is to apply them each to different areas. Luckily, this is already something that is present and would be falterous to ignore.
Individualism is an ideology that essentially says individuals deserve unalienable rights that allow their prosperance. Egoism is an ideology that inherits this, and expands on it by basically proposing that what the ego (propensity to desire) craves is what the ego should have. In Max Stirner's conception of Egoism, it is also described that there are specific (structural) things that disallow individuals from embracing or enacting their egos. These are called phantasms or spooks, most commonly. Through this, it is determined that each individual should have unalienable autonomous rights, the ability to enact their egos' desires, and we should disallow systems of constriction upon individual egos from existing and oppressing such people.
Collectivism is an ideology that essentially says certain things should be collectivized, and thus, shared between individuals. Communalism is an ideology that embodies this in the sense of leftist ethics. This is to say that, the extents of Collectivism within Communalism, are that all property should be collectivized. This creates the notion of common property being a term that would apply to all physical (corporeal/real) things. This takes separation from other leftist ideologies such as Communism, which would strive for a separation between "public" and "personal" property; where these terms are usually defined differently by different social implementations of Communism. For example, Egoist Communism or Ego-communism would likely propose personal property as being whatever an individual, themself, can personally defend. The rest of Communalism is essentially the same as the rest of Communism, economically. Support for expropriation, use motives of production, and more.
Through this description, given it is well-understood and not blindly denied, it should become apparent as to how Soulism inheriting both Individualism and Collectivism, as well as Egoism and Communalism, totally, is not an oxymoron. Ego-communalism would inherit that each individual should have unalienable autonomous rights and the ability to enact their egos' desires. As well as this, all property should be collectivized (shared) among individuals, and treated as common property. "Spooks" should be abolished, which in this sense, would be done through other leftist economic policies, such as expropriation (equitable (re)distribution of material items), supporting use motives of production, and more. The main argument here, to opposing beliefs, would be that such economic regulations and collectivization of property are not spooks. These things give more freedom to individuals, help to support each individual with their needs, and more. Neither collective nor individual would be specifically recognized as more important than the other from the implementations of these ethics together. Whatever other philosophies, politics, or general ethics, that are held alongside these ones, would be what determine which may be more important, if either, and perhaps ever-changing or different in different scenarios.
Soulism, being more than just Ego-communalism, expands on a lot of these principles with other ethics. One such example is the striving for a common knowledge hivemind to be had, which is not yet determined in exactly how it could interact with Ego-communalism specifically. However, one possibility is that it could inherent collectivization of more than just physical things. Negative Utilitarianism is a philosophy inherent in Soulism, which essentially states that suffering should be reduced. Suffering is defined by Soulism as being the direct opposite of fulfillment, which is defined as being like the power held by an individual's essence, or soul, basically describing how capable an individual is, in extents spanning beyond just physical or mental ability. This can extend to individual desires, for example, and how capable of achieving them an individual is. There is also considerable fulfillment or suffering that is inherently part of the implementation, existence, or removal of spooks, which are basically just any hierarchy, in Soulist beliefs. Suffering is like the incapability of an individual, in this way. By Soulism proposing that suffering should be absolutely minimized, and suffering being something that easily spans to individual levels, it becomes very hard or impossible to fundamentally describe how suffering should be reduced, in certain situations. As such, there could be specific situations where collective efforts could be seen as more important to fulfill than individual ones, or vice-versa. Shifting perceptions for these situations, and also the recognition of potential conflict of desires between groups in such situations, are simply symptomatic of lifeーor more accuratelyーLaws of Nature. This is one of the main reasons Soulism is against the Laws of Nature existing, as they are clearly spooks, and thus, also seeks to abolish them. However, until such a time (or lack thereof..), these situations and their consequences are simply unavoidable. The creation of a Soulist hivemind, however, does seem to be something that would mitigate the frequencies of such things happening, thus, reinvigorating it as a goal. There may be more examples that could be described of these ideas of one group being recognized as more important than another in the case of individuals and collectives within Soulism.
Finished writing at 386 (10-hour) / 915 (24-hour) time, 7 Apr. 2023, AZ timezone.
Finished editing at 399 (10-hour) / 935 (24-hour) time, 7 Apr. 2023, AZ timezone.
Published at 405 (10-hour) / 944 (24-hour) time, 7 Apr. 2023, AZ timezone.
Worked on by alien Azsula.