4 15. Precisely, during the XX century, a school of thought took to the task of establishing the difference between personalism and individualism. For example, Jacques Maritain, stated that individuality and personality are “two metaphysical lines that cross each other in the unit” of each human being (which is individual in one sense and person in another). According to the great French thinker, each human being is individual, as part of “individualized fragment” of a species, as well as person, given of free will and spirituality, and, therefore, “an independent whole before the world."5 We must not incur in the “tragic error” of confusing individuality with personality; mere individualism was, in effect, one of the errors of the XIX century.6 16. For J. Maritain, the distinction between individuality and personality “belongs to the intellectual wealth of humanity."7 Human beings cannot be reduced to the individuals, and it must be guaranteed that each person is in conditions of preserving and exercising their spiritual liberty.8 A person – he added - is "un univers de nature spirituelle doué de la liberté de choix et constituant pour autant un tout indépendant en face du monde", that must be respected by all, even the State.9 For the author, the so-called “realists” are incapable of carrying out this purpose since in their primary empiricism they only believe in force, they only go by the political practice of specific historical moments and they cowardly accept that the State be superimposed over the human being.10 With the same concern of ensuring respect for human beings, a school of thought that went on to be known as the personalism school has been developed through time, and it found a special conceptual development in the second half of the XX century. 2. Personalism Beyond Individualism. 17. The personalist school of thought arose in the second half of the XX century, especially in the decades of the fifties up to the seventies; it has strong historical roots in all philosophical reflections on human beings throughout the centuries. In the VI century of our era, for example, the Roman philosopher A.M.S Boecio (475-525), convicted in absentia and detained for alleged treason, had already written from jail his classic De Consolatione Philosophiae (525), which he concluded a little before his brutal execution. In his work, he covered the misfortunes of life (such as his), and he questioned if philosophy could be a comfort for the unfortunate. However, he states that human beings are given reason, and that rectitude is very important. The only aspect for which A.M.S. Boecio confessed he had not been able to . Cf., v.g., M. Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, Boston, Beacon Press, 1998, p. 147. 4 . J. Maritain, Para una Filosofía de la Persona Humana, Buenos Aires, Club de Lectores, 1984, pages 161-162 and 198, and cf. pages 158 and 164. 5 . Ibid., pages 176-177 and 231. . Ibid., page 141. . Cf. ibid., pages 186 and 196-197. . J. Maritain, Humanisme intégral (1936), Paris, Aubier, 2000 (reed.), page 18, and cf. pages 37. 6 7 8 9 10 . Cf. ibid., pages 229-232.