Anarchism is very misunderstood, and indeed quite a complicated concept which most people have difficulty accepting. Libertarianism is in my opinion a form of anarchism, purely because it is about limiting the power of government.

You see Anarchism is about getting rid of government as much as possible, but like any other political ideal just where you draw that line means you get to call yourself something different. Anarcho-syndicalism is about cooperative decision making and control. But then, at least in theory, so is representative democracy.

Some Anarchists embrace total individualism, some embrace different forms of community decision making, some just rail against real or imagined injustices and demand an end to “the system”

Some “left wing” Anarchists take an even greater emphasis on property than classic Libertarians, especially Anarch-environmentalists who demand that corporations pay true costs for use of common resources and enviromental damage.

Outside of political philosophy books if you are interested in anarchism try reading
distress by Greg Egan
or
the moon is a harsh mistress by robert heinlein

Agree with them or not they both provide interesting thought experiments on what an anarchic system might look like

Technorati Tags: politics, philosophy, anarchism, libertarianism

An interesting article sure, but I did approach it with a certain degree of sceptism. I mean, I do not feel particularly put upon for my apostasy. But then I read through the article, and after, the comments. Oh the comments! I suddenly found myself on the end of ludicrously on sided logical arguments the like of which I haven’t seen since I did a course on feminist philosophy (In that case the crazy came from some grumpy students rather than the lecturers).

The idea that made me most grumpy was the idea that as an atheist I have no morals, or at most shaky morals. I could go into my study of various ancient philosophers and ethicists but really the only one I feel the need to bring up is David hume whose essays concerning morals and ethics are what I consider to be most consistent with the reality in this world. Where essentially mral decisions are not for the most part decided by religious ardour, but by the utility
of what is best for self and community.

Look it up if you are interested, but don’t stress about the nasty atheists, most of us will never even mention our lack of faith. We are oh so sneaky that way.