Tradition
Anarchism
Overview
a philosophy, movement, and political ideology that holds that any government, like the state, is undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Anarchism is discussed.
Anarchism, as its derivation indicates, is the theory which is opposed to every kind of forcible government. It is opposed to the State as the embodiment of the force employed in the government of the community. Such government as Anarchism can tolerate must be free government, not merely in the sense that it is that of a majority, but in the sense that it is that assented to by all.
Bertrand Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; author linked in the graph; opens on it
Rightly conceived, Anarchism is no mere abstract ideal theory of human society. It views life and social relations with eyes disillusioned.
Herbert Spencer, The Right to Ignore the State
names the idea; states what it is; author linked in the graph; opens on it
As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a State, is no longer necessary. The first act by virtue of which the State really constitutes…
Friedrich Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific
author linked in the graph; names the idea
And nations, like other groups, ought not to have complete liberty of action in matters which are of equal concern to foreign nations. Liberty demands self-government, but not the right to interfere with others. The greatest degree of liberty is not secured by anarchy. The reconciliation of liberty with government is a difficult problem, but it is one which any political theory must face. The essence of government…
Bertrand Russell, Political Ideals
author linked in the graph; names the idea
The more legislation and government are in harmony with this idea, the more rare do punishments become and thus it is quite reasonable to maintain, as Plato did, that in a perfect state no punishments at all would be necessary. Now although a perfect state may never exist, the idea is not on that account the less just, which holds up this maximum as the archetype or standard of a constitution, in order to bring…
Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason
author linked in the graph
Philosophers who discussed Anarchism
- Feminism
- William Godwin
- The Ego and Its Own
- Murray Bookchin
- Karl Marx
- Simone Weil
- Max Weber
- Zhuangzi (book)
- Murray Rothbard
- Peter Marshall (travel writer)
- Marquis de Sade
- John Cowper Powys
- Noam Chomsky
- Philip K. Dick
- Charles Fourier
- Herbert Spencer
- Thomas Paine
- Dwight Macdonald
- Ayn Rand
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
- Bertrand Russell
- Richard Sylvan
- Henry David Thoreau
- Friedrich Engels
Related ideas
- Manchester University Press
- Egalitarianism
- Anarcho-capitalism
- Anarchism in Italy
- History
- Fascism
- Instrumental and intrinsic value
- Feminism
- French Revolution
- Max Stirner
- Feudalism
- Federalism
- Free market
- Social stratification
- Athens
- Harvard University Press
- Stanford University Press
- Princeton University Press
- Basic Books
- Philosophy
- William Godwin
- Immanuel Kant
- Ancient Greek
- Academy
Place in the tradition
Part of Outline of philosophy.
Narrower topics:
- -ism
- Aeschylus
- AK Press
- Anarchism in Italy
- Anarchist communism
- Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow
- Anarcho-capitalism
- Anarcho-primitivism
- Anarcho-syndicalism
- Ancient Greece
- Anthropology
- Anti-authoritarianism
- Anti-capitalism
- Anti-fascism
- Anti-war movement
- Ashgate Publishing
- Athens
- Authority
- Autonomy
- Barcelona
- Basic Books
- Basra
- Benjamin Tucker
- Bloomsbury Publishing