Why are economists individualists? There is a two-part answer: we aim to explain growth and we know that we possess imagination, creativity, and inventiveness. We can identify qualities that appear similar to the imagination, creativity, and inventiveness of human beings in the higher animals. The forces of evolution produce qualities that can also be superficially described by using these words. But in economics, these words are ordinarily used for a specific purpose. They are used to help explain the wealth of nations (progress) under the system of "natural liberty" (the free market economy). In this use, their meaning is completely unrelated to higher animals and the forces of evolution. Economists adopt the viewpoint of individualism partly because of their goal of explaining the wealth of nations. Of course, many economists do not even think about a goal. And others have more mundane goals that are unrelated to that of Adam Smith. But it seems to me that we should focus on the driver of the cart rather than on the cart, the horse, or the objects that the horse and cart disturb along the highway. Pat Gunning