Anarchism: Key thinkers Flashcards
Who did Stirner believe is the centre of the moral universe and the state?
The self-interested and rational individual
What did Stirner believe about the future society?
Will be the Union of Egoists - this will be brought about by insurrection, not the overthrow of the state
What did Stiner believe is the essential core of human nature?
Self-interested ego so each person should be able to express their individuality free from all constraints; such egoism represents individual self-autonomy or self-mastery
Given Stirner’s extreme individualism …
There can be no compromise between egoism and the state because a person exercising self-mastery is in fundamental opposition to the state whose role is inherently oppressive and invasive
What does egoism reject?
Capitalism and the work ethic that underpins it as enslaving and alienating
Stirner views on employment?
Employment should be fulfilling and useful to the worker
Should allow nthe individual to enjoy the fruits of their labour
Stirner’s views on ownership
Rejects traditional concepts of ownership rights (e.g. private property and collective ownership), based on exclusive or restrictive use Egoistic property (things or people) can be used freely by self-interested individuals without moral constraints
Stirner’s views of free stateless society
Free stateless society based on creation of unions of egoists - voluntary and fluid cooperative groups that enable individuals to pursue their personal objectives in a mutal and orderly way
These unions only exist as instrumental bodies for the pursuit of individual, not collective goals
These unions don’t constitute eany form of organised society
Stirner’s views of removing the state
Rejects violent revolution - Believes it results in new oppressive states and govs that constrain the individual
Calls for insurrection - Self-interested elevate themselves above capitalist society and the state, leaving both to with and die. Individuals “rise or exalt” themselevs in personal acts of self-assertion and rebellion to reject all forms of external authority
Proudhon main views
Opposes private property and collectivism - they limit liberty and economic freedom and should be replaced by mutualism
The rejection and overthrow of the state via peaceful means
Proudhon views on collectivism
Opposed collectivism because it subordinates individual freedom and independence. For this reason he objected to communims and trade unions
Proudhon views on private property
Opposed private property as a form of capitalist accumulation since it enables property owners to exploit others for profit, rent and interest
Possesion of private property is illegitimate when it gives one perosn power over another
Proudhon views on ownership
Opposed private property as a form of capitalist accumulation - enables property owners to exploit others through profit, rent and interest
Possesion of private property is illegitimate when it gives one person power over another
Natural right for a person to own a home and possess enough land or tools to be able to work because an individual requires a minimum amount of property to maintain their independence, liberty and livelihood
Can avoid dangers assocaited with private property or collectivism with mutualism
What is mutualism?
Self-governing producers, individually or in associations, exchange goods and services through contracts freely entered into on a mutually-beneficial and non-profit-making basis
Value of products = Amount of labour time involved
Producers can borrow from a non-profit-making National or People’s Bank to obtain credit and establish businesses, encouraging a mutialist transformation of the economy
Proudhon’s views on the state
Should be rejected because it sustains the inequalities of capitalism through its laws, police and army and interferes with the liberty and self-development of the individual by placing external authority above an individual’s authority
State can be abolished through propaganda and passive resistance instead of violence
Ongoing mutualist economic reorganisation will gradually and peacefully make the political structure of the state redundant and it will ultimately collapse
