Who Invented the Individual?

A common misconception holds that early "modernity" invented the "individual": the idea that everyone is a someone with a unique identity independent of family, tribe, racial group, or nation. And from that idea of individuality, it's argued, came the most distinctive civilizational accomplishments of the West. Those accomplishments (it's further argued) are now threatened by progressive and conservative forms of collectivism that threaten individual prerogative and initiative.