Philosophical anarchism

Philosophical anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which focuses on intellectual criticism of authority, especially political power, and the legitimacy of governments.[1][2][3] American anarchist and socialist Benjamin Tucker coined the term philosophical anarchism to distinguish peaceful evolutionary anarchism from revolutionary variants.[4] Although philosophical anarchism does not necessarily imply any action or desire for the elimination of authority, philosophical anarchists do not believe that they have an obligation or duty to obey any authority, or conversely that the state or any individual has a right to command. Philosophical anarchism is a component especially of individualist anarchism.[5]

Scholar Michael Freeden identifies four broad types of individualist anarchism. He says the first is the type associated with William Godwin that advocates self-government with a "progressive rationalism that included benevolence to others". The second type is egoism, most associated with Max Stirner. The third type is "found in Herbert Spencer's early predictions" and in that of some of his disciples such as Wordsworth Donisthorpe, foreseeing in this sense "the redundancy of the state in the source of social evolution". The fourth type retains a moderated form of egoism and accounts for social cooperation through the advocacy of the market,[6] having such followers as the American individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker[7] and the green anarchist Henry David Thoreau.[8]

Overview

Types and variations

George Klosko who identifies with philosophical anarchism, says that he may accept the existence of a minimal state as an unfortunate and usually temporary "necessary evil", but he argues that citizens do not have a moral obligation to obey the state when its laws conflict with individual autonomy.[9] As conceived by William Godwin, it requires individuals to act in accordance with their own judgments and to allow every other individual the same liberty. Conceived as egoistically by Max Stirner, it implies that the unique one who truly owns himself recognizes no duties to others. Within the limit of his might, he does what is right for him.[10]

Rather than taking up arms to bring down the state, philosophical anarchists "have worked for a gradual change to free the individual from what they thought were the oppressive laws and social constraints of the modern state and allow all individuals to become self-determining and value-creating". Those anarchists may oppose the immediate elimination of the state by violent means out of concern that what remains might be vulnerable to the establishment of a yet more harmful and oppressive state. This is especially true among those anarchists who consider violence and the state as synonymous, or who consider it counterproductive where public reaction to violence results in increased "law enforcement" efforts.[11]

According to writer and blogger Brian Patrick Mitchell, many traditional conservatives identify themselves as "anarchists" on account of their opposition to state control, yet they support the ordering by rank of social groups such as families, churches, corporations, clubs and even countries. For this reason, he proposes that such conservatives be called akratists instead of anarchists because they accept the archy of social rank and only oppose the kratos of state control in contrast to anarchists, who reject both social archy and political kratos.[12]

Political and philosophical anarchism

Magda Egoumenides writes that "[t]he anarchist criticisms and ideal of legitimacy explain the link between philosophical and political anarchism: they remind us that the enduring deficiency of the state is a position that is initially shared by both forms of anarchism, and the moral criteria of philosophical anarchism are intended to be inherent in the society that political anarchism seeks to create." According to Egoumenides, "[a] demonstration of the compatibility of political anarchist social visions with the perspective and ideals of legitimacy of critical philosophical anarchism establishes a continuity within the anarchist ideology."[13]

Michael Huemer writes that "[i]n the terminology of contemporary political philosophy, I have so far defended philosophical anarchism (the view that there are no political obligations), but I have yet to defend political anarchism (the view that government should be abolished)", arguing that "the terminology is misleading" as "both kinds of 'anarchism' are philosophical and political claims."[14]

Criticism

Philosophical anarchism has met the criticism of members of academia following the release of pro-anarchist books such as A. John Simmons' Moral Principles and Political Obligations (1979).[15] In The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey (2013), Michael Huemer defends his interpretation of philosophical anarchism,[16] claiming that "political authority is a moral illusion".[17]

Law professor William A. Edmundson authored an essay arguing against three major philosophical anarchist principles which he finds fallacious. Edmundson claims that while the individual does not owe a normal state a duty of obedience, this does not imply that anarchism is the inevitable conclusion and the state is still morally legitimate.[18]

References

Wayne Gabardi, review of Anarchism by David Miller, published in American Political Science Review Vol. 80, No. 1. (Mar., 1986), pp. 300–302.
Rex Martin (April 1974). "Wolff's Defence of Philosophical Anarchism". The Philosophical Quarterly. 24: 140. doi:10.2307/2217718.
Simmons, A. John (16 February 2009). "Philosophical Anarchism". Search eLibrary. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1344425. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
Antliff, Allan. 2001. Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the First American Avant-Garde. University of Chicago Press. p. 4.
Outhwaite, William & Tourain, Alain (Eds.). (2003). "Anarchism." The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought (2nd Edition, p. 12). Blackwell Publishing.
Freeden, Michael. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829414-X. pp. 313–314.
Tucker, Benjamin R., Instead of a Book, by a Man too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism (1897, New York).
Broderick, John C. "Thoreau's Proposals for Legislation." American Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Autumn, 1955). p. 285.
Klosko, George. Political Obligations. Oxford University Press 2005. p. 4
Outhwaite, William & Tourain, Alain (Eds.). (2003). "Anarchism," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought. (2nd Edition, p. 12). Blackwell Publishing.
Murphy, Brenda. The Provincetown Players and the Culture of Modernity. Cambridge University Press 2005. pp. 31–32.
Brian Patrick Mitchell, Eight Ways to Run the Country, Praeger, 2006.
Egoumenides, Magda (2014). Philosophical Anarchism and Political Obligation. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4411-2445-6.
Huemer, Micheal (2012). The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 137. ISBN 9781137281647.
Klosko, George (1999). "More than Obligation – William A. Edmundson: Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority". The Review of Politics. 61 (3): 536–538. doi:10.1017/S0034670500028989. ISSN 1748-6858.
Dagger, Tristan J. (2018). Playing Fair: Political Obligation and the Problems of Punishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780199388837.
Rogers, Tristan J. (2020). The Authority of Virtue: Institutions and Character in the Good Society. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781000222647.
Kristjánsson, Kristján (2000). "Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority by William A. Edmundson". Mind. 109 (436): 896–900. JSTOR 2660038.

External links

Dobos, Ned. "Philosophical anarchism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Philosophical anarchism in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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[1] Wayne Gabardi, review of Anarchism by David Miller, published in American Political Science Review Vol. 80, No. 1. (Mar., 1986), pp. 300–302.

[2] Rex Martin (April 1974). "Wolff's Defence of Philosophical Anarchism". The Philosophical Quarterly. 24: 140. doi:10.2307/2217718.

[Simmons_2009-3] Simmons, A. John (16 February 2009). "Philosophical Anarchism". Search eLibrary. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1344425. Retrieved 4 January 2021.

[4] Antliff, Allan. 2001. Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the First American Avant-Garde. University of Chicago Press. p. 4.

[5] Outhwaite, William & Tourain, Alain (Eds.). (2003). "Anarchism." The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought (2nd Edition, p. 12). Blackwell Publishing.

[6] Freeden, Michael. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829414-X. pp. 313–314.

[7] Tucker, Benjamin R., Instead of a Book, by a Man too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism (1897, New York).

[8] Broderick, John C. "Thoreau's Proposals for Legislation." American Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Autumn, 1955). p. 285.

[9] Klosko, George. Political Obligations. Oxford University Press 2005. p. 4

[10] Outhwaite, William & Tourain, Alain (Eds.). (2003). "Anarchism," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought. (2nd Edition, p. 12). Blackwell Publishing.

[11] Murphy, Brenda. The Provincetown Players and the Culture of Modernity. Cambridge University Press 2005. pp. 31–32.

[12] Brian Patrick Mitchell, Eight Ways to Run the Country, Praeger, 2006.

[13] Egoumenides, Magda (2014). Philosophical Anarchism and Political Obligation. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4411-2445-6.

[14] Huemer, Micheal (2012). The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 137. ISBN 9781137281647.

[15] Klosko, George (1999). "More than Obligation – William A. Edmundson: Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority". The Review of Politics. 61 (3): 536–538. doi:10.1017/S0034670500028989. ISSN 1748-6858.

[16] Dagger, Tristan J. (2018). Playing Fair: Political Obligation and the Problems of Punishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780199388837.

[17] Rogers, Tristan J. (2020). The Authority of Virtue: Institutions and Character in the Good Society. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781000222647.

[18] Kristjánsson, Kristján (2000). "Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority by William A. Edmundson". Mind. 109 (436): 896–900. JSTOR 2660038.