Transcript Anarchism - GEOCITIES.ws

Anarchism
In his famous trilogy, “His
Dark Materials”, Philip
Pullman calls God “The
Authority”, and paints
Him as being at the head
of a rotten, all-controlling
system. Eventually, “The
Authority” is killed off.
How might all this make
Pullman an anarchist?
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Some anarchists
(Proudhon and
Bakunin) both equated
the idea of God with
that of authority.
From the notion of
divine authority
derives justifications
of the oppressive
domination of man
over man
Anarchism
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This oppressive
domination is what
prevents individual
happiness and
freedom.
Abolish authority –
particularly the legalbureaucratic state –
and you can refashion
society on a new
moral basis.
Anarchism
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If people are
fundamentally good,
why is society bad?
Anarchism
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What is the role of
authority?
Why should one
person exercise
authority over
another?
Anarchism
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Why can’t anarchists
accept constitutional
arrangements –
designed to limit the
abuse of power?
Anarchism
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What is the anarchist
case against
government, law, and
private property?
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Government is the
ultimate exercise of
power over others
However justified
(tradition –
conservatives; contract
– liberals) it remains
essentially a
conspiracy of the few
against the many.
Anarchism
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Law.
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Anarchists attack law as
the chief instrument of
government. Laws are
inevitably biased in favour
of government.
Law does not deter or
inform (Godwin) and
denies justice by operating
on the basis of categories,
not individual cases.
Anarchism
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Law
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Since crime is socially
determined, punishment is
arbitrary or unjust, and no
improvement results.
It also usurps individual
reason and morality
Bakunin – freedom is
following one’s own
reason and understanding
justice.
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Private Property
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Like socialists, anarchists
traced the inequalities of
capitalism (workers have
no ownership over what
they produce) to the
existence of private
property
Capital should therefore
be shared by all and
labour become the source
of ultimate value.
Ideas Common to all Anarchists
Sovereignty of the individual
 Authority is wrong – no individual has the
right to exercise power over another
 Opposition to the political state
 Human nature is moral, but altered by
environment
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Ideas that divide Anarchists
Most anarchists oppose private property, but
some accept it as inevitable
 Some anarchists are individualists; others
believe social communities are natural and
desirable
 Some anarchists believe in common
ownership and no exchange of goods;
others propose exchange on the basis of
mutual benefit.
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Ideas that divide Anarchists
Anarcho-capitalists accept that a completely
free market can be just.
 Anarcho-communists propose small
communities operating on a collective basis.
 Anarcho-syndicalists propose industrial
democracies that are self-governing.
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