Les Miserables and the Truth of Ethical Individualism

At the Center for Human Equality, founded by Russell McAlmond in Oregon, we advance Ethical Individualism as the philosophical foundation for genuine human equality. In his 2021 book Ethical Individualism: A Human Relational Philosophy, McAlmond articulates a human relational ethic grounded in three infinite axioms: the infinite value of every human life, the infinite uniqueness of each person as an irreplaceable mosaic of experiences, perceptions, and inner life, and the infinite mystery of the private realm of consciousness that no label or group category can ever fully capture or reduce.

Ethical Individualism rejects group judgmentalism—the practice of evaluating individuals primarily through collective identities such as class, criminal record, gender, or social status—and insists instead on equality of respect for every person based on their individual character and humanity.

Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Misérables (1862) stands as one of literature’s most profound validations of these axioms. Set in post-Napoleonic France, a society fractured by rigid class hierarchies, legalistic rigidity, and social prejudice, Hugo’s epic exposes the moral and relational devastation wrought by group judgmentalism while dramatizing the redemptive power that emerges when individuals are seen in their full, infinite humanity.

The novel’s central tragedy begins with group judgmentalism’s corrosive effects. Jean Valjean is sentenced to nineteen years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. Upon release, he is branded forever as “the convict.” Innkeepers, employers, and townspeople refuse him shelter, work, or basic decency solely because of this label.

Hugo shows how such collective judgment does not merely punish past actions—it actively prevents rehabilitation, hardens the heart, and nearly fulfills the very criminal identity society has imposed. Valjean’s early bitterness and thefts are direct consequences of being reduced to a group category rather than recognized as a man capable of change.Fantine’s fate reveals the same dehumanizing mechanism applied to women who deviate from societal norms of “respectability.”

Abandoned, impoverished, and desperate to support her daughter Cosette, Fantine is forced into prostitution. Society instantly labels her “the fallen woman,” stripping her of dignity, selling her hair and teeth, and ultimately destroying her life. The Thénardiers’ exploitation of young Cosette as an unwanted “orphan” or financial burden further illustrates how group-based dehumanization targets the vulnerable, treating children as interchangeable members of an inferior class rather than unique souls deserving protection.

Inspector Javert embodies group judgmentalism raised to a philosophical system. For Javert, a person is their legal or social category—thief, prostitute, revolutionary, or ex-convict—with no room for mercy, transformation, or personal depth. His rigid adherence to the law as an expression of group order leaves no space for the infinite value or uniqueness of the individual.

When Valjean’s goodness shatters Javert’s worldview, Javert’s only recourse is suicide. Hugo demonstrates that a justice system built on labels rather than individuals is not only unjust but ultimately self-destructive.

In luminous contrast, Bishop Myriel’s encounter with Valjean dramatizes the liberating power of Ethical Individualism. When the released convict is turned away everywhere else, the Bishop offers him food, shelter, and—most radically—trust. By addressing Valjean not as a convict but as a brother capable of goodness, Myriel affirms his infinite value.

This single act of individual recognition breaks the cycle of judgment and ignites Valjean’s moral regeneration. He becomes Monsieur Madeleine, a benevolent mayor and industrialist devoted to the welfare of others. Hugo illustrates McAlmond’s insight that acknowledging the infinite worth of even one person can ripple outward to heal entire communities.

Throughout the novel, Hugo’s narrative technique itself affirms the axioms of infinite uniqueness and infinite mystery. He repeatedly plunges into the inner consciousness of his characters—Valjean’s tormented conscience, Fantine’s maternal devotion, Javert’s unyielding sense of duty, Marius’s idealistic fervor, Cosette’s gentle resilience, and even the street urchin Gavroche’s irrepressible spirit.

By revealing their private thoughts, longings, regrets, moral struggles, and hidden capacities for change, Hugo proves that no external label can encompass the boundless interior life of a human being. Each soul is portrayed as a distinct, irreplaceable mosaic whose depths remain ultimately mysterious.

This literary method directly validates McAlmond’s third axiom: we can never fully “know” or categorize another person through group stereotypes; true relational ethics demands humility, empathy, and openness to the infinite mystery within every individual.

The redemptive arcs of Les Misérables further affirm Ethical Individualism’s promise. Valjean’s lifelong commitment to protecting Cosette, his self-sacrifice at the barricades, and his final moments of grace show the triumph of individual moral agency over deterministic group fate. Even amid the revolutionary fervor of the barricade scenes, Hugo sympathizes with legitimate grievances against systemic injustice while cautioning against subsuming unique persons into ideological collectives.

True equality, Hugo suggests, arises not through group conflict but through personal acts of love, mercy, and recognition of shared humanity.In our own era—still beset by identity politics, cancel culture, and various forms of collective judgment—Les Misérablesspeaks with undiminished urgency.

The Center for Human Equality exists to champion the alternative Hugo dramatized so movingly: a society that judges individuals by their character and actions rather than by group labels. McAlmond’s Ethical Individualism supplies the clear philosophical foundation for this vision—one that honors the infinite value, uniqueness, and mystery inherent in every human being.By embracing these truths, as Jean Valjean ultimately does, we move closer to the genuine equality and human flourishing both Victor Hugo and the Center for Human Equality envision.

As Hugo writes, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

In Ethical Individualism, we discover the practical and moral means to recognize that divine spark—the infinite worth—in every unique individual we encounter.