Abstract
The study focuses important moments of reflection on individualism since the turn of the last century. It is based on the conflict between different concepts of individual and the proliferating forms of collectivism.
It moves from the "aristocratic" individualism of decadence, which proved too exclusive, to an analysis of Masaryk's rejection of "extreme" individualism and his acceptance of its "moderate" variant as a necessary condition of democracy. The positive assessments of individualism by F.
X. Šalda and Ferdinand Peroutka are also mentioned.