People Flashcards
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
(1) “to be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right nor the wisdom, nor the virtue”
(2) “God is dead”
(3) “property is theft”. Distinguished between possessions (e.g. craft tools) from property (which is theft).
(4) Mutualism: a system of fair and equitable exchange, in which individuals or groups bargain with one another, trading goods and services without profiteering or exploitation.
Lord Acton
“power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”
William Godwin
- humans are rational and naturally inclined to live in accordance with universal laws (good, sociable, perfectible). The unnatural laws of government corrupt this.
- Truth will always displace falsehood.
Emma Goldman
“Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings to man the consciousness of himself which maintains that God, the state and society are non-existent, that their promises are null and void since they can be fulfilled only through mans subordination.
Hobbes
the state of nature would be “nasty, brutish and short”
Bakunin
(1) inverted Voltaire’s “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him” –> “If God really existed, he would have to be abolished
(2) “political power and wealth are inseparable”
(3) friend’s with Marx, they fell out over the dictatorship of the proletariat (B didn’t believe any person had the right to rule another)
Max Stirner
(1) rejected the spooks of religion
(2) “Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man’s lap. What is freedom to have the will to be responsible for one’s self.”
(3) Stirner’s egoism is about self-mastery: avoiding subordination to others and avoiding being ‘dragged along’ by our own appetites.
(4) Stirner wanted “to abolish not only the state but also society as an institution responsible for it’s members”
(5) Union of egoists: a loose association of individuals which (a) acts out of conscious egoism (b) is a relationship that is constantly renewed and (c) is not an authority.
(6) liked property - should be defended through might
Gustave Brocher
“An anarchist who wants no all-powerful master on earth, no authoritarian government, must necessarily reject the idea of an omnipotent power to whom everything must be subjected; if he is consistent he must declare himself an atheist”
Har Dayal
tried to synthesise anarchism and buddhism by setting up “the first monastery of anarchism”
Tao te Ching
“the world is ruled by letting things take their course. It can not be ruled by interfering”
Kropotkin
Mutual Aid: “sociability is as much a law of nature as human struggle”
“unsociable species… are doomed to decay” whereas species that work together and cooperate are more like to survive and thrive.
Georges Sorel
revolution will come through general strike, he advocated the use of violence and propaganda by deed.
Henry David Thoreau
adapted Thomas Jefferson’s “government is best which governs least” –> “government is best which governs not at all”. He believed that people should not allow governments to overrule their conscience. Therefore advocated civil disobedience (e.g. not paying taxes which he did during the slave trade).
Benjamin Tucker
- Conflicts and disagreements can be resolved via reasoned discussion.
- A system of market exchange could lead to harmony between individuals
- “the most perfect socialism is possible only on the condition of the most perfect individualism”
- An unrestrained natural market is a mediator of egoistic impulses.
Josiah Warren
- Individuals have a sovereign right to property
- It is logical and rational for individuals to divide labour through “labour-for-labour” exchange - “time stores” where labour could be exchanged for the promise of return labour.
