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193-532: Individualist anarchism represents a group of several traditions of thought and individualist philosophies within the anarchist movement . Among the early influences on individualist anarchism Josiah Warren ( sovereignty of the individual ), Max Stirner ( egoism ), Lysander Spooner ( natural law ), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon ( mutualism ), Henry David Thoreau ( transcendentalism ), Herbert Spencer ( law of equal liberty ) and Anselme Bellegarrigue ( civil disobedience ). Within anarchism, individualist anarchism

386-497: A Nietzschean overthrow of the values of bourgeois Russian society, and rejected the voluntary communes of anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin as a threat to the freedom of the individual. Scholars including Avrich and Allan Antliff have interpreted this vision of society to have been greatly influenced by the individualist anarchists Max Stirner and Benjamin Tucker. While Spain was influenced by American individualist anarchism, it

579-484: A decentralised model of self-governance , envisioning free association based on co-operative or participatory economics . Some libertarian socialists see such systems as complementary to statism , while others hold them to be an alternative to the state . Libertarian socialists tend to reject the view that political institutions such as the state represent an inherently good, or even neutral, power. Some libertarian socialists, such as Peter Kropotkin , consider

772-456: A metaphysical position, solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist. Solipsism is the only epistemological position that, by its own postulate , is both irrefutable and yet indefensible in the same manner. Although the number of individuals sincerely espousing solipsism has been small, it is not uncommon for one philosopher to accuse another's arguments of entailing solipsism as an unwanted consequence, in

965-569: A millenarian -turned-socialist and Christian Israelite . Although an early follower of Robert Owen , he eventually rejected Owen's collective idea of property and found in individualism a " universalism " that allowed for the development of the "original genius". Without individualism, Smith argued that individuals cannot amass property to increase one's happiness. William Maccall , another Unitarian preacher and probably an acquaintance of Smith, came somewhat later, although influenced by John Stuart Mill , Thomas Carlyle and German Romanticism , to

1158-479: A social anarchist . Some commentators do not identify Proudhon as an individualist anarchist due to his preference for association in large industries, rather than individual control. Johann Kaspar Schmidt, better known as Max Stirner (the nom de plume he adopted from a schoolyard nickname he had acquired as a child because of his high brow, in German Stirn ), was a German philosopher who ranks as one of

1351-430: A social revolution . Libertarian socialists reject private property , as they consider capitalist property relations to be incompatible with freedom . Instead, libertarian socialism upholds individual self-ownership , as well as the collective ownership of the means of production . In the place of capitalism, libertarian socialists favour an economic system based on workers' control of production, advocating for

1544-723: A "comprehensive libertarian socialist theory and practice". Libertarian socialist activism became focused on achieving practical reforms and theoretical developments centred around common "core values" such as economic democracy , economic justice and sustainable development , without building a coherent critique of capitalism. Activists from the 1970s and 1980s influenced by libertarian socialism did not advance coherent alternatives to markets and central planning, and had no reformist campaign. Eventually, Hahnel argues, they turned to traditional single-issue campaigns and abandoned their "big picture" libertarian socialist approach. These movements were somewhat successful in achieving their goals:

1737-705: A "libertarian socialist alternative to the colonially established state boundaries in the Middle East." Various sources have drawn parallels between the Rojava Revolution and the Zapatista uprising of 1994 or the Spanish Revolution of 1936 , and noted the influence of libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin, specifically his concept of libertarian municipalism , on the revolution. Libertarian socialist ideas have influenced some currents of

1930-473: A "progressive rationalism that included benevolence to others". The second type is the amoral self-serving rationality of egoism as most associated with Max Stirner . The third type is "found in Herbert Spencer 's early predictions, and in that of some of his disciples such as Wordsworth Donisthorpe , foreseeing the redundancy of the state in the source of social evolution". The fourth type retains

2123-528: A New Unionist leader, was one of the first British syndicalists). The Socialist League was dominated by anarchists by the 1890s. The Common Wealth Party was inspired by Christian socialism as well as libertarian socialism. Others in the tradition of the ILP and described as libertarian socialists included G. D. H. Cole (the founder of guild socialism and influenced by Morris), George Orwell , Michael Foot , Raymond Williams , and Tony Benn . Another

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2316-756: A certain proposition and which have no objective reality in and of themselves. Ethical subjectivism stands in opposition to moral realism , which claims that moral propositions refer to objective facts, independent of human opinion; to error theory , which denies that any moral propositions are true in any sense; and to non-cognitivism , which denies that moral sentences express propositions at all. The most common forms of ethical subjectivism are also forms of moral relativism , with moral standards held to be relative to each culture or society, i.e. cultural relativism , or even to every individual. The latter view, as put forward by Protagoras , holds that there are as many distinct scales of good and evil as there are subjects in

2509-546: A classificatory term, but in very different ways. Some such as the authors of An Anarchist FAQ use the classification individualist anarchism/ social anarchism , while Bob Black contrasts an individualist anarchism and anarcho-capitalism ("Type 2 anarchism") less representative of the anarchist tradition with the more representative collectivist anarchism or anarcho-leftism ("Type 1 anarchism"). Others such as Geoffrey Ostergaard , who see individualist anarchism as distinctly non-socialist, recognizing anarcho-capitalist as part of

2702-411: A communistic type, while the other wing believes that the free person will prefer a high degree of isolation". Without the labor theory of value , some argue that 19th-century individualist anarchists approximate the modern movement of anarcho-capitalism, although this has been contested or rejected. As economic theory changed, the popularity of the labor theory of classical economics was superseded by

2895-522: A consideration of the anarchist movement. English translations of these works arrived in the United Kingdom and in individualist American circles led by Tucker. Stirnerist individualism was popular among literary and intellectual anarchists in pre-WWI Germany, for instance influencing the expressionist movement and the early thought of Otto Gross . In Italy, individualist anarchism had a strong tendency towards illegalism and violent propaganda by

3088-456: A contest which lasted for over fifty years. Libertarian socialism proved attractive to British writers such as Edward Carpenter , Oscar Wilde , and William Morris , the latter of whom developed a kind of libertarian socialism based in a strong critique of civilisation , which he aimed to overthrow and replace with what he called a "beautiful society". Morris drove the development of impossibilism , which became increasingly concerned with

3281-536: A defense against blind servitude to authority. He was critical of influential individualist thinkers such as Nietzsche and Stirner for promoting an asocial egoist individualism and instead promoted an individualism with solidarity seen as a way to guarantee social equality and harmony. He was highly critical of anarcho-syndicalism , which he viewed as plagued by excessive bureaucracy; and he thought that it tended towards reformism. Instead, he favored small groups based on ideological alignment. He supported and participated in

3474-419: A difference in tastes between people or times is the terminus of the argument: the problem is abandoned at this point to whoever studies and explains tastes (psychologists? anthropologists? phrenologists? sociobiologists?). On our preferred interpretation, one never reaches this impasse: the economist continues to search for differences in prices or incomes to explain any differences or changes in behavior. "With

3667-433: A distinction, relevant in this context, between guilt societies (e.g. medieval Europe ) with an "internal reference standard" and shame societies (e.g. Japan, "bringing shame upon one's ancestors") with an "external reference standard", where people look to their peers for feedback on whether an action is acceptable or not. Individualism is often contrasted either with totalitarianism or with collectivism , but there

3860-562: A form of organisation in place of the state . Egoist anarchists argue that egoism will foster genuine and spontaneous union between individuals. Egoism has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy, but it has also gone beyond Stirner within anarchism. It was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and LGBT activist John Henry Mackay . John Beverley Robinson wrote an essay called "Egoism" in which he states that "Modern egoism, as propounded by Stirner and Nietzsche , and expounded by Ibsen , Shaw and others,

4053-520: A form of organization in place of the state. A Union is understood as a relation between egoists which is continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will. Even murder is permissible "if it is right for me", although it is claimed by egoist anarchists that egoism will foster genuine and spontaneous unions between individuals. Stirner's concept of "egoistic property" not only a lack of moral restraint on how one obtains and uses things , but includes other people as well. His embrace of egotism

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4246-411: A kind of reductio ad absurdum . In the history of philosophy, solipsism has served as a skeptical hypothesis . The doctrine of economic individualism holds that each individual should be allowed autonomy in making their own economic decisions as opposed to those decisions being made by the community, the corporation or the state for him or her. Libertarian socialism Libertarian socialism

4439-592: A libertarian socialist is Robin Cook . American economist Robin Hahnel claimed that libertarian socialists "were by far the worst underachievers among 20th century anti-capitalists ." He contrasted libertarian socialist failings with those of social democracy , arguing that while the latter had abandoned their principles of economic democracy and justice in favour of reformism , the former had proved incapable of sustaining anti-capitalist uprisings and largely ignored

4632-404: A market-based system of distribution over the need-based system advocated by social anarchists. The very idea of an individualist–socialist divide is also contested by those who argue that individualist anarchism is largely socialistic and can be considered a form of individualist socialism , with non-Lockean individualism encompassing socialism. The term individualist anarchism is often used as

4825-473: A moderated form of egoism and accounts for social cooperation through the advocacy of market relationships. Individualist anarchism of different kinds have the following things in common: Tucker's two socialisms were the state socialism which he associated to the Marxist school and the libertarian socialism that he advocated. What those two schools of socialism had in common was the labor theory of value and

5018-422: A moral agent should treat one's self (also known as the subject ) with no higher regard than one has for others (as egoism does, by elevating self-interests and "the self" to a status not granted to others), but that one also should not (as altruism does) sacrifice one's own interests to help others' interests, so long as one's own interests (i.e. one's own desires or well-being ) are substantially-equivalent to

5211-560: A number of democratic socialists , including some prominent members of the British Labour Party . The Socialist League was formed in 1885 by William Morris and others critical of the authoritarian socialism of the Social Democratic Federation . It was involved in the new unionism , the rank-and-file union militancy of the 1880s–1890s, which anticipated syndicalism in some key ways ( Tom Mann ,

5404-494: A part of the liberal or liberal-socialist wing of anarchism — in contrast to the collectivist or communist wing of anarchism and libertarian socialism. However, others suggest a softer divide, seeing individualist anarchists as sharing with social anarchists an opposition to state, capitalism and authority, while diverging (a) due to their evolutionary approach to change, preferring the creation of alternative institutions, such as mutual banks or communes, and (b) in their preference for

5597-441: A person taking part in society attempts to learn and discover what their own interests are on a personal basis, without a presumed following of the interests of a societal structure (an individualist need not be an egoist ). The individualist does not necessarily follow one particular philosophy. They may create an amalgamation of elements of many philosophies, based on personal interests in particular aspects that they find of use. On

5790-491: A revival during the 1960s, when it was reconstituted as part of the nascent New Left . This revival occurred largely unconsciously, as new leftists were often unaware of their libertarian socialist predecessors. The concepts of grassroots democracy , workers' control , solidarity and autonomy were thus reinvented by the new generation. They also picked up the principles of decentralisation , participatory democracy and mutual aid . These libertarian socialist themes drove

5983-424: A significant current of anarchism and explicitly identified as libertarian socialist. Anarcho-syndicalist Gaston Leval explained: "We therefore foresee a Society in which all activities will be coordinated, a structure that has, at the same time, sufficient flexibility to permit the greatest possible autonomy for social life, or for the life of each enterprise, and enough cohesiveness to prevent all disorder. [...] In

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6176-497: A societal level, the individualist participates on a personally structured political and moral ground. Independent thinking and opinion is a necessary trait of an individualist. Jean-Jacques Rousseau , claims that his concept of general will in The Social Contract is not the simple collection of individual wills and that it furthers the interests of the individual (the constraint of law itself would be beneficial for

6369-437: A strong rejection within others". Illegalists usually did not seek moral basis for their actions, recognizing only the reality of "might" rather than "right"; and for the most part, illegal acts were done simply to satisfy personal desires, not for some greater ideal. Influenced by theorist Max Stirner's egoism as well as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (his view that " property is theft! "), Clément Duval and Marius Jacob proposed

6562-489: A system of cooperative economics , or common ownership . Libertarian socialists tend to see the working class as agents of social revolution , reject representative democracy and electoralism , and advocate for self-organisation and direct action as means to engage in class conflict . Libertarian socialism has a grassroots and direct democratic approach to socialism , rejecting parliamentarism and bureaucracy respectively. Libertarian socialists advocate

6755-409: A system of cooperative economics , or common ownership . They also advocate for workers' self-management , as they consider workers able to cooperate productively without supervisors , whether appointed by employers or by the state. They also tend to see free trade as inevitably resulting in the redistribution of income and wealth from workers to their corporate employers. They advocate for

6948-444: A theory of individual and collective individuation in which the individual subject is considered as an effect of individuation rather than a cause. Thus, the individual atom is replaced by a never-ending ontological process of individuation. Individuation is an always incomplete process, always leaving a "pre-individual" left-over, itself making possible future individuations. The philosophy of Bernard Stiegler draws upon and modifies

7141-511: A time, even the American anarcho-capitalist theorist Murray Rothbard attempted to make common cause with libertarian socialists, but later shifted away from socialism and towards right-wing populism . Many libertarian socialists of this period were particularly influenced by the analysis of Cornelius Castoriadis and his group Socialisme ou Barbarie . This new generation included the non-vanguardist Marxist organisation Facing Reality ,

7334-600: A way to reassert the importance of human individuality and freedom. Nietzsche's concept of the superman is closely related to the idea of individualism and the pursuit of one's own unique path and potential. As is seen in the following quote, the concept of superman reflects Nietzsche's emphasis on the need to overcome traditional moral and societal norms in order to achieve personal growth and self-realization: Freethought holds that individuals should not accept ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason . Thus, freethinkers strive to build their opinions on

7527-563: A well-organised society, all of these things must be systematically accomplished by means of parallel federations, vertically united at the highest levels, constituting one vast organism in which all economic functions will be performed in solidarity with all others and that will permanently preserve the necessary cohesion". Significant thinkers in the anarchist tradition who are described as libertarian socialist include Colin Ward . A broad scope of economic and political philosophies that draw on

7720-431: Is a form of individualist anarchism. Stirner was a Hegelian philosopher whose "name appears with familiar regularity in historically oriented surveys of anarchist thought as one of the earliest and best-known exponents of individualist anarchism". In 1844, Stirner's work The Ego and Its Own was published and is considered to be "a founding text in the tradition of individualist anarchism". Stirner does not recommend that

7913-430: Is a limit of the world". Metaphysical subjectivism is the theory that reality is what we perceive to be real, and that there is no underlying true reality that exists independently of perception. One can also hold that it is consciousness rather than perception that is reality ( subjective idealism ). In probability , a subjectivism stands for the belief that probabilities are simply degrees-of-belief by rational agents in

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8106-488: Is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law. In extreme forms such as solipsism, it may hold that the nature and existence of every object depends solely on someone's subjective awareness of it. In the proposition 5.632 of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus , Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote: "The subject doesn't belong to the world, but it

8299-488: Is a process of transformation, whereby the personal and collective unconscious is brought into consciousness (by means of dreams, active imagination or free association to take examples) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche to take place. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development. In L'individuation psychique et collective , Gilbert Simondon developed

8492-474: Is a spectrum of behaviors at the societal level ranging from highly individualistic societies through mixed societies to collectivist. According to an Oxford Dictionary , "competitive individualism" in sociology is "the view that achievement and non-achievement should depend on merit. Effort and ability are regarded as prerequisites of success. Competition is seen as an acceptable means of distributing limited resources and rewards. Methodological individualism

8685-430: Is a system of philosophy created by philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand which holds that reality exists independent of consciousness; human beings gain knowledge rationally from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic; the moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest. Rand thinks the only social system consistent with this morality

8878-404: Is all these; but it is more. It is the realization by the individual that they are an individual; that, as far as they are concerned, they are the only individual." Stirner and Nietzsche , who exerted influence on anarchism despite its opposition, were frequently compared by French "literary anarchists" and anarchist interpretations of Nietzschean ideas appear to have also been influential in

9071-602: Is also associated with humanist philosophical positions and ethics. In the English language , the word individualism was first introduced as a pejorative by utopian socialists such as the Owenites in the late 1830s, although it is unclear if they were influenced by Saint-Simonianism or came up with it independently. A more positive use of the term in Britain came to be used with the writings of James Elishama Smith ,

9264-412: Is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management . It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other forms of libertarianism by its rejection of private property . Broadly defined, it includes schools of both anarchism and Marxism , as well as other tendencies that oppose

9457-487: Is best known for the works Mutual Banking (1850) which proposed an interest-free banking system and Transcendentalism , a critique of the New England philosophical school . He saw mutualism as the synthesis of "liberty and order". His "associationism [...] is checked by individualism. [...] 'Mind your own business,' 'Judge not that ye be not judged.' Over matters which are purely personal, as for example, moral conduct,

9650-489: Is chosen is efficacious in satisfying the self-interest of the agent. Nor does ethical egoism necessarily entail that in pursuing self-interest one ought always to do what one wants to do, e.g. in the long term the fulfilment of short-term desires may prove detrimental to the self. Fleeting pleasance then takes a back seat to protracted eudaemonia . In the words of James Rachels , "[e]thical egoism [...] endorses selfishness, but it doesn't endorse foolishness." Ethical egoism

9843-412: Is different from anarcho-capitalism and other capitalist theories due to these individualist anarchists retaining the labor theory of value and socialist doctrines . Other classifications include communal/mutualist anarchism. Michael Freeden identifies four broad types of individualist anarchism. Freeden says the first is the type associated with William Godwin that advocates self-government with

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10036-484: Is former Labour Party minister Peter Hain , who has written in support of libertarian socialism, identifying an axis involving a "bottom-up vision of socialism, with anarchists at the revolutionary end and democratic socialists [such as himself] at its reformist end" as opposed to the axis of state socialism with Marxist–Leninists at the revolutionary end and social democrats at the reformist end. Another recent mainstream Labour politician who has been described as

10229-479: Is found on both the right and left in modern politics. For scholar Ellen Meiksins Wood , "there are doctrines of individualism that are opposed to Lockean individualism [...] and non-Lockean individualism may encompass socialism ". British historians such as Emily Robinson, Camilla Schofield, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Natalie Thomlinson have argued that Britons were keen about defining and claiming their individual rights, identities and perspectives by

10422-414: Is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure laissez-faire capitalism ; and the role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form – a work of art – that he can comprehend and to which he can respond emotionally. Objectivism celebrates man as his own hero, "with his own happiness as

10615-406: Is in stark contrast to Godwin's altruism . Although Stirner was opposed to communism , for the same reasons he opposed capitalism , humanism , liberalism , property rights and nationalism , seeing them as forms of authority over the individual and as spooks in the mind, he has influenced many anarcho-communists and post-left anarchists . The writers of An Anarchist FAQ report that "many in

10808-572: Is influenced mainly by the thought of William Godwin . Autarchism promotes the principles of individualism, the moral ideology of individual liberty and self-reliance whilst rejecting compulsory government and supporting the elimination of government in favor of ruling oneself to the exclusion of rule by others. Robert LeFevre , recognized as an autarchist by anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard , distinguished autarchism from anarchy , whose economics he felt entailed interventions contrary to freedom in contrast to his own laissez-faire economics of

11001-487: Is often defined in contrast to communitarianism , collectivism and corporatism . Individualism has been used as a term denoting "[t]he quality of being an individual; individuality", related to possessing "[a]n individual characteristic; a quirk ". Individualism is also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there is a tendency towards self-creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors. It

11194-553: Is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by the larger society. Libertines place value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses. As a philosophy, libertinism gained new-found adherents in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, particularly in France and Great Britain . Notable among these were John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester and

11387-429: Is primarily a literary phenomenon while social anarchism has been the dominant form of anarchism, emerging in the late 19th century as a distinction from individualist anarchism after anarcho-communism replaced collectivist anarchism as the dominant tendency. Individualist anarchism has been described by some as the anarchist branch most influenced by and tied to liberalism (specifically classical liberalism ), or as

11580-540: Is sometimes described as a form of individualist anarchism, some scholars have criticized those, including some Marxists and right-libertarians , for taking it at face value. Other scholars such as Benjamin Franks, who considers anarcho-capitalism part of individualist anarchism and hence excludes those forms of individualist anarchism that defend or reinforce hierarchical forms from the anarchist camp, have been criticized by those who include individualist anarchism as part of

11773-547: Is sometimes the philosophical basis for support of libertarianism or individualist anarchism as in Max Stirner , although these can also be based on altruistic motivations. These are political positions based partly on a belief that individuals should not coercively prevent others from exercising freedom of action. Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who generally held, despite profound doctrinal differences, that

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11966-456: Is strongly correlated with GDP per capita and venture capital investments. The cultures of economically developed regions such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, North America and Western Europe are the most individualistic in the world. Middle income regions such as Eastern Europe, South America and mainland East Asia have cultures which are neither very individualistic nor very collectivistic. The most collectivistic cultures in

12159-411: Is the only intrinsic good and pain is the only intrinsic bad. The basic idea behind hedonistic thought is that pleasure (an umbrella term for all inherently likable emotions) is the only thing that is good in and of itself or by its very nature. This implies evaluating the moral worth of character or behavior according to the extent that the pleasure it produces exceeds the pain it entails. A libertine

12352-450: Is the view that phenomena can only be understood by examining how they result from the motivations and actions of individual agents. In economics, people's behavior is explained in terms of rational choices , as constrained by prices and incomes. The economist accepts individuals' preferences as givens. Becker and Stigler provide a forceful statement of this view: On the traditional view, an explanation of economic phenomena that reaches

12545-439: Is to seek the society most favorable to the artist. [...] for Wilde art is the supreme end, containing within itself enlightenment and regeneration, to which all else in society must be subordinated. [...] Wilde represents the anarchist as aesthete ". Woodcock finds that "[t]he most ambitious contribution to literary anarchism during the 1890s was undoubtedly Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism " and finds that it

12738-448: Is toleration of different beliefs and of different ideas as to what constitutes a good life. Liberalism generally values differing political opinions, even if they clash and cause discord. Egoist anarchism is a school of anarchist thought that originated in the philosophy of Max Stirner , a 19th-century Hegelian philosopher whose "name appears with familiar regularity in historically orientated surveys of anarchist thought as one of

12931-536: The 1917 Revolution , in which libertarian socialists played a leading role, the Bolsheviks changed tack and adopted elements of the libertarian socialist programme in their appeals to the workers. But by 1919, the new Bolshevik government had come to view the libertarian socialists as a threat to their power and moved to eliminate their influence. Libertarian socialist organisations were banned and many of their members were arrested, deported to Siberia or executed by

13124-589: The Age of Enlightenment and rejects many foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings , hereditary status, and established religion . John Locke and Montesquieu are often credited with the philosophical foundations of classical liberalism , a political ideology inspired by the broader liberal movement. Locke wrote that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." In

13317-533: The Austrian School . Liberalism is thought "that attaches [and advances the] importance...[of]...the civil and political rights of individuals and their freedoms of speech and expression ." This belief is widely accepted in the United States, Europe, Australia and other Western nations, and was recognized as an important value by many Western philosophers throughout history, in particular since

13510-465: The Cheka . The Revolutions of 1917–1923 ended in defeat for the libertarian socialists, with either the social democrats, the Bolsheviks or nationalists rising to power. Libertarian socialists responded by reevaluating their positions, emphasising mass organisation over intellectual vanguardism and revolutionary spontaneity over substitutionism . They also came to conceive the " dictatorship of

13703-626: The Marquis de Sade . During the Baroque era in France, there existed a freethinking circle of philosophers and intellectuals who were collectively known as libertinage érudit and which included Gabriel Naudé , Élie Diodati and François de La Mothe Le Vayer . The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 's libertinism to Hobbesian materialism . Objectivism

13896-456: The New Left , new social movements and contemporary anarchism , have been listed among the other wings of libertarian socialism. The currents of classical anarchism that developed in the 19th century were committed to autonomy and freedom, decentralization, opposing hierarchy, and opposing the vanguardism of authoritarian socialism . In the 20th century, social anarchism emerged as

14089-517: The Russian Revolution of 1917 and particularly during the Spanish Revolution of 1936 . Its defeat during these revolutions led to its brief decline, before its principles were resurrected by the New Left and new social movements of the late 20th century. While its key principles of decentralisation , workers' control and mutual aid are generally shared across the many schools of libertarian socialism, differences have emerged over

14282-562: The Socialist Party of Great Britain , Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Korsch Anton Pannekoek , Roland Holst , Hermann Gorter , Sylvia Pankhurst , Antonio Gramsci , Grego Lukacs , Socialisme ou Barbarie, Henri Simon , Echanges et Mouvements and Paul Mattick as significant Marxian libertarian socialists. There was a strong left-libertarian current in the British labour movement and the term "libertarian socialist" has been applied to

14475-501: The Socialist Party of Great Britain , consider Godwin both an individualist and a communist; Murray Rothbard did not regard Godwin as being in the individualist camp at all, referring to him as the "founder of communist anarchism "; and historian Albert Weisbord considers him an individualist anarchist without reservation. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the first philosopher to label himself an "anarchist". Some consider Proudhon to be an individualist anarchist while others regard him to be

14668-529: The Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA , debated and refined proposals for the construction of a libertarian socialist society. Over several decades, resolutions from these congresses formed the basis of a specific program on a range of issues, from the structure of communes and the post-revolutionary economy to libertarian cultural and artistic initiatives. These proposals were published in

14861-658: The anti-austerity and new municipalist movements, such as Ada Colau 's Barcelona en Comú party, in which they ally with democratic socialists . In Chile , there have been several libertarian socialist movements active since the 2010s in groups including Libertarian Left and the Broad Front (FA). Gabriel Boric founded Social Convergence in 2018, bringing together the Autonomist Movement , Libertarian Left and other libertarian socialist groups. Boric, who describes himself as libertarian socialist,

15054-459: The anti-globalization movement . In this period, many librertarian socialists, such as Murray Bookchin, Cornelius Castoriadis, Andre Gorz , Ivan Illich , E.P. Thompson and Raymond Williams , were committed to " in rethinking what socialism might come to mean in an age of ecological limit". According to Robin Hahnel, new social movements continued the New Left's tendency of failing to develop

15247-659: The authoritarian personality were also rediscovered by the New Left, who developed his programme for individual self-governance into a libertarian system of education used by the Summerhill School . Drawing on the Freudo-Marxist conception of civilisation as "organised domination", Herbert Marcuse developed a critique of alienation in modern Western societies, concluding that creativity and political dissent had been undermined by social repression . Meanwhile, Lewis Mumford published denunciations of

15440-521: The bureaucratisation and moderation of the socialist movement, leading to the establishment of the Socialist Party of Great Britain . By the early 20th century, libertarian socialists had gained a leading influence over the left-wing in the Netherlands , France and Italy and went on to play major roles in the Mexican and Russian Revolutions . In India, the libertarian socialist tradition

15633-488: The class reductionism prevalent in traditional forms of libertarian socialism, proving intersectional oppressions other than class also demanded attention. Through the new social movements, libertarian socialism developed an awareness of different aspects of oppression, beyond class analysis. Libertarian socialism again received a revival of interest in the wake of the fall of communism and concurrent rise of neoliberalism . It proved particularly attractive to people from

15826-529: The common ownership of the mir . Their agitation for land reform in the Russian countryside culminated with the establishment of rural soviets during the 1905 Revolution . Anarchists also organised among the urban proletariat , forming clandestine factory committees that proved more attractive to revolution-minded workers than the more reformist trade unions favoured by the Bolsheviks . During

16019-458: The empowerment of individuals to control their own lives and encourage them to voluntarily cooperate with each other, rather than allow themselves to be controlled by a state. Libertarian socialists therefore uphold civil liberties such as freedom of choice , freedom of expression and freedom of thought . In contrast to authoritarian forms of socialism , libertarian socialism rejects state ownership and centralisation . Instead it upholds

16212-558: The military-industrial complex and Paul Goodman advocated for decentralisation. In the process, the new generation of Marxists gravitated towards libertarian tendencies, sometimes closely resembling anarchism. Following on from Marcuse, Daniel Cohn-Bendit , E. P. Thompson , Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall all adopted forms of "libertarian Marxism", opposed to the bureaucracy and parliamentarism of statist tendencies. A specific and explicit libertarian socialist tendency also began to emerge. While some more libertarian Marxists adopted

16405-457: The non-aggression principle and individual sovereignty . Some individualist anarchists such as Thoreau do not speak of economics, but simply of the right of "disunion" from the state and foresee the gradual elimination of the state through social evolution. In Europe, interest in free love developed in French and Spanish individualist anarchist circles: "Anticlericalism, just as in the rest of

16598-534: The state and capitalism . With its roots in the Age of Enlightenment , libertarian socialism was first constituted as a tendency by the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), during their conflict with the Marxist faction . Libertarian socialism quickly spread throughout Europe and the American continent, reaching its height during the early stages of

16791-495: The subjective theory of value of neoclassical economics and Murray Rothbard , a student of Ludwig von Mises , combined Mises' Austrian School of economics with the absolutist views of human rights and rejection of the state he had absorbed from studying the individualist American anarchists of the 19th century such as Tucker and Spooner. In the mid-1950s, Rothbard was concerned with differentiating himself from communist and socialistic economic views of other anarchists, including

16984-494: The working class . For anarchist historian Paul Avrich , "[t]he two leading exponents of individualist anarchism, both based in Moscow , were Aleksei Alekseevich Borovoi and Lev Chernyi (born Pavel Dmitrievich Turchaninov). From Nietzsche, they inherited the desire for a complete overturn of all values accepted by bourgeois society political, moral, and cultural. Furthermore, strongly influenced by Max Stirner and Benjamin Tucker,

17177-567: The 15th century. The Levante , where collective self-management of irrigation was commonplace, became the hotbed of anarchist collectivisation. Building on this traditional collectivism , from 1876, the Spanish libertarian socialist movement grew through sustained agitation and the establishment of alternative institutions that culminated in the Spanish Revolution. During this period, a series of workers' congresses, first convoked by

17370-479: The 17th century on, individual indicates separateness, as in individualism. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individuated being; a person separated from everything with unique character by possessing their own needs, goals, and desires in comparison to other people. The principle of individuation, or principium individuationis , describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinguished from other things. For Carl Jung , individuation

17563-509: The 17th century, liberal ideas began to influence European governments in nations such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Poland, but they were strongly opposed, often by armed might, by those who favored absolute monarchy and established religion. In the 18th century, the first modern liberal state was founded without a monarch or a hereditary aristocracy in the United States of America. The US Declaration of Independence includes

17756-414: The 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes . 21st century Humanism tends to strongly endorse human rights , including reproductive rights , gender equality , social justice , and the separation of church and state . The term covers organized non-theistic religions , secular humanism , and a humanistic life stance. Philosophical hedonism is a meta-ethical theory of value which argues that pleasure

17949-413: The 1970s, demanding greater personal autonomy and self-determination and less outside control, angrily complaining that the establishment was withholding it. Historians argue that this shift in concerns helped cause Thatcherism and was incorporated into Thatcherism's appeal. Within anarchism, individualist anarchism represents several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize

18142-795: The British libertarian socialist group Solidarity , and the Australian councilists of the Self-Management Group. Some of this new generation of libertarian socialists also joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), swelling the old union's numbers, organising agricultural workers and launching a new journal, The Rebel Worker . This libertarian socialist milieu, with their criticisms of democratic centralism and trade unionism , and their advocacy of workers' self-management and council democracy , went on to inspire

18335-558: The Enlightenment . It is often rejected by collectivist ideas such as in Abrahamic or Confucian societies, although Taoists were and are known to be individualists. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote praising "the idea of a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed". Liberalism has its roots in

18528-535: The French situationists and Italian autonomists . Of the figures in the New Left, the American linguist Noam Chomsky became the most prominent spokesperson for libertarian socialism. Inspired by the humanism of Bertrand Russell , the individualism of Wilhelm von Humboldt and the syndicalism of Rudolf Rocker , Chomsky championed a libertarian socialism that upheld individual liberty and self-ownership . Chomsky has been outspoken advocate of anti-authoritarianism , opposing limits on individual freedoms by

18721-610: The German and American theorists of individualist anarchism, they demanded the total liberation of the human personality from the fetters of organized society". Some Russian individualists anarchists "found the ultimate expression of their social alienation in violence and crime, others attached themselves to avant-garde literary and artistic circles, but the majority remained " philosophical " anarchists who conducted animated parlor discussions and elaborated their individualist theories in ponderous journals and books". Lev Chernyi advocated

18914-559: The Mexican state, in 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) rose up against the government, enabling the formation of a self-governing autonomous territory in the Mexican state of Chiapas . The Zapatistas have roundly rejected political sectarianism and ideological doctrine , including the state socialist model of seizing state power, with spokesman Subcomandante Marcos famously declaring "I shit on all

19107-432: The New Left failed to form a coherent ideological program or establish lasting support to carry forward the momentum of the late 1960s, resulting in many dropping out of activism altogether. A minority from the New Left continued their radical activism within the new social movements of the 1970s and 1980s, becoming involved in second-wave feminism , the gay liberation movement , environmental movement and eventually

19300-414: The Spanish individualist anarchist magazine Ética and Iniciales , "there is a strong interest in publishing scientific news, usually linked to a certain atheist and anti-theist obsession, philosophy which will also work for pointing out the incompatibility between science and religion, faith and reason. In this way there will be a lot of talk on Darwin's theories or on the negation of the existence of

19493-412: The United States "he at least contacted (Henry David) Thoreau and, probably (Josiah) Warren ". Later, this tradition continued with such intellectuals as Albert Libertad , André Lorulot , Émile Armand , Victor Serge , Zo d'Axa and Rirette Maîtrejean , who in 1905 developed theory in the main individualist anarchist journal in France, L'Anarchie . In this sense, "the theoretical positions and

19686-683: The United States. Ethical egoism, also called simply egoism, is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest . It differs from psychological egoism , which claims that people do only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism which holds merely that it is rational to act in one's self-interest. However, these doctrines may occasionally be combined with ethical egoism. Ethical egoism contrasts with ethical altruism , which holds that moral agents have an obligation to help and serve others. Egoism and altruism both contrast with ethical utilitarianism, which holds that

19879-462: The abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." — Oscar Wilde , The Soul of Man under Socialism , 1891 Individualists are chiefly concerned with protecting individual autonomy against obligations imposed by social institutions (such as

20072-566: The anarchist and socialist traditions whilst excluding anarcho-capitalism, including the authors of An Anarchist FAQ . Some anarchist scholars criticized those, especially in Anglo-American philosophy, who define anarchism only in terms of opposition to the state, when anarchism, including both individualist and social traditions, is much more than that. Anarchists, including both individualist and social anarchists, also criticized some Marxists and other socialists for excluding anarchism from

20265-518: The anarchist movement in Glasgow, Scotland, took Stirner's 'Union of egoists' literally as the basis for their anarcho-syndicalist organising in the 1940s and beyond". Similarly, the noted anarchist historian Max Nettlau states that "[o]n reading Stirner, I maintain that he cannot be interpreted except in a socialist sense". This position on property is quite different from the native American, natural law, form of individualist anarchism which defends

20458-647: The anarchist-controlled areas of the Spanish Republic, and the anarchist militias displayed the strongest military discipline, liberals and Communists alike blamed the " sectarian " libertarian socialists for the defeat of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War . These charges have been disputed by contemporary libertarian socialists, such as Robin Hahnel and Noam Chomsky , who have accused such claims of lacking substantial evidence. Following

20651-941: The anti-authoritarian aspects of Marxism have been described as "Libertarian Marxism", a tendency which emphasises autonomy , federalism and direct democracy . Wayne Price identified it most closely with the tendency of autonomist Marxism and identified libertarian characteristics within council communism , the Johnson–Forest Tendency , the Socialisme ou Barbarie group and the Situationist International , contrasting them with orthodox Marxism , social democracy , and Marxism–Leninism . Michael Löwy and Olivier Besancenot have identified Rosa Luxemburg , Walter Benjamin , André Breton and Daniel Guérin as prominent figures of libertarian Marxism. Ojeili identifies William Morris , Daniel De Leon ,

20844-451: The bare necessities for an ascetic life . William Godwin can be considered an individualist anarchist. Godwin advocated extreme individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated. Godwin was a utilitarian who believed that all individuals are not of equal value, with some of us "of more worth and importance" than others depending on our utility in bringing about social good. Therefore, he does not believe in equal rights, but

21037-511: The basis for the new economy. According to Gaston Leval , the CNT established an agrarian federation in the Levante that encompassed 78% of Spain's most arable land . The regional federation was populated by 1,650,000 people, 40% of whom lived on the region's 900 agrarian collectives, which were self-organised by peasant unions. Although industrial and agricultural production was at its highest in

21230-421: The basis of facts , scientific inquiry and logical principles, independent of any logical fallacies or intellectually limiting effects of authority, confirmation bias , cognitive bias , conventional wisdom , popular culture , prejudice , sectarianism , tradition , urban legend and all other dogmas . Regarding religion , freethinkers hold that there is insufficient evidence to scientifically validate

21423-481: The concepts that "one man employ another" or that "he direct him", in his labor but rather demanded that "all natural opportunities requisite to the production of wealth be accessible to all on equal terms and that monopolies arising from special privileges created by law be abolished". They believed state monopoly capitalism (defined as a state-sponsored monopoly) prevented labor from being fully rewarded. Lysander Spooner besides his individualist anarchist activism

21616-555: The deed and criticism of organization. Such individualist anarchist tendencies include French illegalism and Italian anti-organizational insurrectionarism . Another important tendency within individualist anarchist currents emphasizes individual subjective exploration and defiance of social conventions. Individualist anarchist philosophy attracted "amongst artists, intellectuals and the well-read, urban middle classes in general". Anarchist historian George Woodcock wrote of individualist anarchism's tendency to distrust co-operation beyond

21809-476: The deed similar to French individualist anarchism, but perhaps more extreme and which emphazised criticism of organization be it anarchist or of other type. Individualist anarchism was one of the three categories of anarchism in Russia , along with the more prominent anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism . The ranks of the Russian individualist anarchists were predominantly drawn from the intelligentsia and

22002-471: The defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War , libertarian socialism fell into decline. Left-wing politics throughout the world came to be dominated either by social democracy or Marxism-Leninism , which attained power in a number of countries and thus had the means to support their ideological allies. In contrast, Hahnel argues, libertarian socialists were not able to gain influence within

22195-508: The distribution of wealth becoming unequal because it would permit private appropriation and accumulation. According to Carlotta Anderson, American individualist anarchists accept that free competition results in unequal wealth distribution, but they "do not see that as an injustice". Nonetheless, Peter Marshall states that "the egalitarian implications of traditional individualist anarchists" such as Tucker and Lysander Spooner have been overlooked. Collectivist and social anarchists dispute

22388-420: The earliest and best-known exponents of individualist anarchism ." According to Stirner, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire, without regard for God, state, or morality. Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw unions of egoists , non-systematic associations continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will which Stirner proposed as

22581-1020: The economics of Warren and Proudhon in his eclectic influential publication Liberty . From these early influences, anarchism and especially individualist anarchism was related to the issues of love and sex . In different countries, this attracted a small but diverse following of bohemian artists and intellectuals, free love and birth control advocates, individualist naturists nudists as in anarcho-naturism , freethought and anti-clerical activists as well as young anarchist outlaws in what came to be known as illegalism and individual reclamation , especially within European individualist anarchism and individualist anarchism in France . These authors and activists included Oscar Wilde , Émile Armand , Han Ryner , Henri Zisly , Renzo Novatore , Miguel Giménez Igualada , Adolf Brand and Lev Chernyi among others. In his important essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism from 1891, Wilde defended socialism as

22774-777: The elimination of social and economic inequality through the coercive expropriation of property from the wealthy. The roots of libertarian socialism extend back to the classical radicalism of the early modern period , claiming the English Levellers and the French Encyclopédistes as their intellectual forerunners, and admiring figures of the Age of Enlightenment such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine . According to Mikhail Bakunin and Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis , while authoritarian socialism had its origins in Germany , libertarian socialism

22967-541: The elimination of the state, philosophical anarchists do not believe that they have an obligation or duty to obey the state, or conversely that the state has a right to command. Philosophical anarchism is a component especially of individualist anarchism. Philosophical anarchists of historical note include Mohandas Gandhi , William Godwin , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , Max Stirner , Benjamin Tucker and Henry David Thoreau . Contemporary philosophical anarchists include A. John Simmons and Robert Paul Wolff . Subjectivism

23160-525: The emphasis on the individual, but differ in varying degrees on how one achieves and what constitutes a fulfilling life, what obstacles must be overcome, and what external and internal factors are involved, including the potential consequences of the existence or non-existence of God. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophy in both style and content as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience. Existentialism became fashionable after World War II as

23353-697: The ends, by which anarchism pursued different means. The egoist form of individualist anarchism, derived from the philosophy of Max Stirner , supports the individual doing exactly what he pleases—taking no notice of God, state, or moral rules. To Stirner, rights were spooks in the mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality"—he supported property by force of might rather than moral right. Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw "associations of egoists" drawn together by respect for each other's ruthlessness. A European tendency of individualist anarchism advocated violent individual acts of individual reclamation , propaganda by

23546-601: The establishment of the IAF in 1927. In 2000, Ateneo Libertario Ricardo Mella, Ateneo Libertario Al Margen, Ateneu Enciclopèdic Popular, Ateneo Libertario de Sant Boi and Ateneu Llibertari Poble Sec y Fundació D'Estudis Llibertaris i Anarcosindicalistes republished Émile Armand's writings on free love and individualist anarchism in a compilation titled Individualist anarchism and Amorous camaraderie . Argentine anarchist historian Ángel Cappelletti reports that in Argentina "[a]mong

23739-435: The existence of supernatural phenomena. Humanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority. Since the 19th century, humanism has been associated with an anti-clericalism inherited from

23932-451: The expense of anti-capitalism and class struggle . George Bernard Shaw initially had flirtations with individualist anarchism before coming to the conclusion that it was "the negation of socialism, and is, in fact, unsocialism carried as near to its logical conclusion as any sane man dare carry it". Shaw's argument was that even if wealth was initially distributed equally, the degree of laissez-faire advocated by Tucker would result in

24125-436: The first expression of anarchism. Godwin, a philosophical anarchist, from a rationalist and utilitarian basis opposed revolutionary action and saw a minimal state as a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge. Godwin advocated individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labour be eliminated on the premise that this would be most conducive with

24318-610: The focus of philosophical thought should be to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and their emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts. The early 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard , posthumously regarded as the father of existentialism, maintained that the individual solely has the responsibilities of giving one's own life meaning and living that life passionately and sincerely , in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair , angst , absurdity , alienation and boredom . Subsequent existential philosophers retain

24511-796: The former Eastern Bloc , who saw it as an alternative both to western capitalism and Marxism-Leninism. Since the end of the Cold War , there have been two major experiments in libertarian socialism: the Zapatista uprising in Mexico and the Rojava Revolution in Syria . In reaction against the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the privatisation of indigenous lands by

24704-588: The general good. An influential form of individualist anarchism called egoism , or egoist anarchism, was expounded by one of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism, the German Max Stirner . Stirner's The Ego and Its Own , published in 1844, is a founding text of the philosophy. According to Stirner, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire, without regard for God, state, or morality. To Stirner, rights were spooks in

24897-479: The growth of the New Left, which by this point was disillusioned by the mainstream social democratic and Marxist-Leninist political groupings, due to the capitalistic tendencies of the former and the rigid authoritarianism of the latter. Sociologist C. Wright Mills , who displayed strong libertarian socialist tendencies in his appeals to the New Left, reformulated Marxism for the modern age in his work on The Power Elite . Wilhelm Reich 's Freudo-Marxist theses on

25090-408: The ideals of anarchism. This type of individualist anarchism inspired anarcha-feminist Emma Goldman . The intentional communal experiments pioneered by Josiah Warren influenced European individualist anarchists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Émile Armand and the intentional communities they founded. The American version of individualist anarchism has a strong emphasis on

25283-518: The importance of political and economic reform . Hahnel consequently suggested that, in the 21st century, libertarian socialists should work together with other anti-capitalist social movements, organize for reform without abandoning anti-capitalist principles and strive to build grassroots institutions of self-management , even if those projects are "imperfect". While most libertarian socialists consider it necessary to combat both economic and political power in tandem, regarding each as fundamental to

25476-405: The individual and their will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but refers to a group of individualistic philosophies that sometimes are in conflict. In 1793, William Godwin , who has often been cited as the first anarchist, wrote Political Justice , which some consider to be

25669-479: The individual is sovereign, as well as over that which he himself produces. For this reason he demands 'mutuality' in marriage—the equal right of a woman to her own personal freedom and property. Within some individualist anarchist circles, mutualism came to mean non-communist anarchism. Another form of individualist anarchism was found in the United States as advocated by the so-called Boston anarchists. By default, American individualists had no difficulty accepting

25862-493: The individual try to eliminate the state, but simply that they disregard the state when it conflicts with one's autonomous choices and go along with it when doing so is conducive to one's interests. Stirner says that the egoist rejects pursuit of devotion to "a great idea, a good cause, a doctrine, a system, a lofty calling", arguing that the egoist has no political calling, but rather "lives themselves out" without regard to "how well or ill humanity may fare thereby". Stirner held that

26055-775: The individual, as the lack of respect for the law necessarily entails, in Rousseau's eyes, a form of ignorance and submission to one's passions instead of the preferred autonomy of reason ). Individualism versus collectivism is a common dichotomy in cross-cultural research . Global comparative studies have found that the world's cultures vary in the degree to which they emphasize individual autonomy, freedom and initiative (individualistic traits), respectively conformity to group norms, maintaining traditions and obedience to in-group authority (collectivistic traits). Cultural differences between individualism and collectivism are differences in degrees, not in kind. Cultural individualism

26248-483: The individualist anarchist claim that free competition and markets would yield the libertarian - egalitarian anarchist society that individualist anarchists share with them. In their views, "state intervention merely props up a system of class exploitation and gives capitalism a human face". The authors of An Anarchist FAQ argue that individualist anarchists did not advocate free competition and markets as normative claims and merely thought those were better means than

26441-453: The individualist anarchist tradition, use the classification individualist anarchism/socialist anarchism accordingly. However, others do not consider anarcho-capitalism as part of the anarchist movement , arguing that anarchism has historically been an anti-capitalist movement and anarchists reject that it is compatible with capitalism . In addition, an analysis of several individualist anarchists who advocated free-market anarchism shows that it

26634-488: The individualist anarchists of the 19th century, arguing that "we are not anarchists [...] but not archists either [...]. Perhaps, then, we could call ourselves by a new name: nonarchist". Individualist Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy , ideology , and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual . Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and advocating that

26827-401: The interests of the individual should gain precedence over the state or a social group, while opposing external interference upon one's own interests by society or institutions such as the government. Individualism makes the individual its focus, and so starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation". Individualism

27020-599: The inviolability of the private property that has been earned through labor. Other egoists include James L. Walker , Sidney Parker , Dora Marsden and John Beverly Robinson . In Russia, individualist anarchism inspired by Stirner combined with an appreciation for Friedrich Nietzsche attracted a small following of bohemian artists and intellectuals such as Lev Chernyi as well as a few lone wolves who found self-expression in crime and violence. They rejected organizing, believing that only unorganized individuals were safe from coercion and domination, believing this kept them true to

27213-562: The labour movement. At a time when reformist trade unions were consistently winning concessions, the libertarian socialists' anti-reformist message gained little traction. Their platform of workers' self-management also failed to appeal to industrial workers. Until the 1960s, libertarian socialists were limited mostly to making critiques of authoritarian socialism and capitalism , although Hahnel asserts that these arguments were largely overshadowed by those from neoconservatives and Marxists respectively. Libertarian socialist themes received

27406-576: The legacy of Proudhon and Stirner there emerged a strong tradition of French individualist anarchism . An early important individualist anarchist was Anselme Bellegarrigue . He participated in the French Revolution of 1848 , was author and editor of Anarchie, Journal de l'Ordre and Au fait ! Au fait ! Interprétation de l'idée démocratique and wrote the important early Anarchist Manifesto in 1850. Catalan historian of individualist anarchism Xavier Diez reports that during his travels in

27599-478: The libertarian movement, is another of the frequent elements which will gain relevance related to the measure in which the (French) Republic begins to have conflicts with the church [...] Anti-clerical discourse, frequently called for by the french individualist André Lorulot , will have its impacts in Estudios (a Spanish individualist anarchist publication). There will be an attack on institutionalized religion for

27792-652: The literary fathers of nihilism , existentialism , post-modernism and anarchism , especially of individualist anarchism. Stirner's main work is The Ego and Its Own , also known as The Ego and His Own ( Der Einzige und sein Eigentum in German which translates literally as The Only One [individual] and his Property or The Unique Individual and His Property ). This work was first published in 1844 in Leipzig and has since appeared in numerous editions and translations. Max Stirner 's philosophy, sometimes called egoism,

27985-504: The mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality". Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw unions of egoists , non-systematic associations continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will, which Stirner proposed as a form of organization in place of the state. Egoist anarchists claim that egoism will foster genuine and spontaneous union between individuals. Egoist anarchism has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy. It

28178-406: The modern economist Jim Stanford points out there are many different kinds of competitive markets such as market socialism and capitalism is only one type of a market economy. By around the start of the 20th century, the heyday of individualist anarchism had passed. European individualist anarchism proceeded from the roots laid by William Godwin , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Max Stirner . Proudhon

28371-491: The moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Philosophical anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which contends that the state lacks moral legitimacy . In contrast to revolutionary anarchism, philosophical anarchism does not advocate violent revolution to eliminate it but advocates peaceful evolution to superate it. Although philosophical anarchism does not necessarily imply any action or desire for

28564-410: The movements for gay and women's rights changed societal outlook on gender oppression ; the anti-racist movement proved it necessary to tackle the social aspects of racialisation ; the anti-imperialist movement reconceived of anti-imperialism outside of economic terms; and the environmentalist movement launched a wave of ecological defense and restoration. Together, Hahnel argues, they broke from

28757-411: The ones proposed by anarcho-communists for the development of an anarchist society. Individualist anarchists such as Tucker thought interests, profits, rents and usury would disappear, something that both anarcho-capitalists and social anarchists did not think was true or believe would not happen. In a free market, people would be paid in proportion to how much labor they exerted and exploitation or usury

28950-580: The only limitation on the rights of the individual is that individual's power to obtain what he desires. Stirner proposes that most commonly accepted social institutions, including the notion of state , property as a right , natural rights in general and the very notion of "society" as a legal and ideal abstractness, were mere spooks in the mind. Stirner wants to "abolish not only the state but also society as an institution responsible for its members". Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw Union of egoists , non-systematic associations which he proposed in as

29143-403: The others' interests and well-being. Egoism, utilitarianism, and altruism are all forms of consequentialism , but egoism and altruism contrast with utilitarianism, in that egoism and altruism are both agent-focused forms of consequentialism (i.e. subject-focused or subjective ), but utilitarianism is called agent-neutral (i.e. objective and impartial ) as it does not treat the subject's (i.e.

29336-478: The pages of widely distributed libertarian socialist periodicals, such as Solidaridad Obrera and Tierra y Libertad , which each circulated tens of thousands of copies. By the outbreak of the revolution, the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) enjoyed widespread popularity, counting 1.5 million members within its ranks. During the revolution, the means of production were brought under workers' control and worker cooperatives formed

29529-421: The people that tolerates it." Marxists responded to this by insisting on the eventual " withering away of the state ", in which society would transition from dictatorship to anarchy , in an apparent attempt to synthesise authoritarian and libertarian forms of socialism. This put libertarian socialists into direct competition with social democrats and communists for influence over left-wing politics , in

29722-456: The person's life that should be favored that is most conducive to the general good. Godwin opposed government because it infringes on the individual's right to "private judgement" to determine which actions most maximize utility, but also makes a critique of all authority over the individual's judgement. This aspect of Godwin's philosophy, minus the utilitarianism, was developed into a more extreme form later by Stirner. Godwin took individualism to

29915-484: The preface to the fourth edition in Spanish of The Ego and Its Own from 1900. He proposed the creation of a " Union of egoists " to be a federation of individualist anarchists in Spain, but it did not succeed. Federico Urales was an important individualist anarchist who edited La Revista Blanca . The individualist anarchism of Urales was influenced by Auguste Comte and Charles Darwin . He saw science and reason as

30108-825: The proletariat " as a form of class power, rather than as the dictatorship of a political party. Many Marxists of the period were attracted to this position, including Rosa Luxemburg in Germany, Antonie Pannekoek in the Netherlands, Sylvia Pankhurst in Britain, György Lukács in Hungary and Antonio Gramsci in Italy. Libertarian socialism reached its apex of popularity with the Spanish Revolution of 1936 , during which libertarian socialists led "the largest and most successful revolution against capitalism to ever take place in any industrial economy ". In Spain, traditional forms of self-management and common ownership dated back to

30301-424: The questions of revolutionary spontaneity , reformism , and whether to prioritise the abolition of the state or of capitalism. Libertarian socialism strives for a free and equal society, aiming to transform work and everyday life . Broadly defined, libertarian socialism encapsulates any political ideology that favours workers' control of the means of production and the replacement of capitalism with

30494-564: The radical extent of opposing individuals performing together in orchestras, writing in Political Justice that "everything understood by the term co-operation is in some sense an evil". He believed democracy to be preferable to other forms of government. Godwin's political views were diverse and do not perfectly agree with any of the ideologies that claim his influence as writers of the Socialist Standard , organ of

30687-414: The responsibility that it had in the past on negative developments, for its irrationality which makes it a counterpoint of philosophical and scientific progress. There will be a criticism of proselitism and ideological manipulation which happens on both believers and agnostics". This tendencies will continue in French individualist anarchism in the work and activism of Charles-Auguste Bontemps and others. In

30880-640: The revolutionary vanguards of this planet." As such, they have commonly been characterised as libertarian socialist, or inspired by libertarian socialism. They have in turn become a source of inspiration for libertarian socialists, including the autonomist Marxists Harry Cleaver and John Holloway , as well as some anarchists. In 2012, the Rojava Revolution established the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES; or "Rojava") to put "libertarian socialist ideas ... into practice", and whose cantons present themselves as

31073-407: The same positive conclusions in his 1847 work Elements of Individualism . An individual is a person or any specific object in a collection. In the 15th century and earlier, and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics , individual means "indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person" as in "the problem of proper names ". From

31266-500: The self's, i.e. the moral "agent's") own interests as being more or less important than if the same interests, desires, or well-being were anyone else's. Ethical egoism does not require moral agents to harm the interests and well-being of others when making moral deliberation, e.g. what is in an agent's self-interest may be incidentally detrimental, beneficial, or neutral in its effect on others. Individualism allows for others' interest and well-being to be disregarded or not as long as what

31459-417: The socialist camp. In European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Movements , Carl Landauer summarized the difference between communist and individualist anarchists by stating that "the communist anarchists also do not acknowledge any right to society to force the individual. They differ from the anarchistic individualists in their belief that men, if freed from coercion, will enter into voluntary associations of

31652-658: The soul". Individualist anarchist groups also were affiliated with naturism and individualist anarchist Henri Zisly promoted naturism in France. For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, "[i]t is apparent [...] that Proudhonian Anarchism was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews [...] William B. Greene presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form". William Batchelder Greene

31845-400: The spread of Esperanto and anationalism had importance just as naturism and free love currents. Later, Armand and Ryner themselves started writing in the Spanish individualist press. Armand's concept of amorous camaraderie had an important role in motivating polyamory as realization of the individual. Catalan historian Xavier Diez reports that the Spanish individualist anarchist press

32038-470: The state or religious morality). For L. Susan Brown , "Liberalism and anarchism are two political philosophies that are fundamentally concerned with individual freedom yet differ from one another in very distinct ways. Anarchism shares with liberalism a radical commitment to individual freedom while rejecting liberalism's competitive property relations." Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes

32231-466: The state to be an inherent instrument of landlordism and capitalism, therefore opposing the state with equal intensity as they oppose capitalism. Libertarian socialism views corporate power as an institutional problem, rather than as a result of the influence of certain immoral individuals . It thus opposes capitalism , which it sees as an economic system that upholds greed , the exploitation of labour and coercion , and calls for its overthrow in

32424-493: The state. He has also focused much of his libertarian socialist critique on mass media in the United States , due to its role in the military-industrial complex. While most sections of the New Left expressed a form of libertarian socialism, others were instead being inspired by the Cuban and Chinese Communist Revolutions to embrace forms of authoritarian socialism such as Maoism–Third Worldism . As such, according to Hahnel,

32617-476: The supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state , a corporation and social norms imposed through peer pressure , among others). Civil libertarianism is not a complete ideology ; rather, it is a collection of views on the specific issues of civil liberties and civil rights . Because of this, a civil libertarian outlook is compatible with many other political philosophies, and civil libertarianism

32810-445: The survival of the other, some consider it a priority to combat one or the other first. Some, such as Mikhail Bakunin and Alexander Berkman , considered capitalism to rely on the support and protection of the state. They thus concluded that if the state were to be abolished, capitalism would naturally dissolve in its wake. But others, including Noam Chomsky , believe that the state is only inherently oppressive because of its control by

33003-409: The term in order to distinguish themselves from authoritarian socialists, anarchists began calling themselves "libertarian socialist" in order to avoid the negative connotations associated with anarchism. The libertarian socialist Daniel Guérin specifically attempted to synthesise anarchism and Marxism into a single tendency, which inspired the growth of the French libertarian communist movement. For

33196-658: The theory of la reprise individuelle ( individual reclamation ) which justified robbery on the rich and personal direct action against exploiters and the system. In Germany, the Scottish-German John Henry Mackay became the most important propagandist for individualist anarchist ideas. He fused Stirnerist egoism with the positions of Benjamin Tucker and actually translated Tucker into German. Two semi-fictional writings of his own, Die Anarchisten and Der Freiheitsucher , contributed to individualist theory through an updating of egoist themes within

33389-428: The vital experiences of [F]rench individualism are deeply iconoclastic and scandalous, even within libertarian circles. The call of nudist naturism , the strong defence of birth control methods, the idea of " unions of egoists " with the sole justification of sexual practices, that will try to put in practice, not without difficulties, will establish a way of thought and action, and will result in sympathy within some, and

33582-473: The way to guarantee individualism and so he saw that "[w]ith the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all". For anarchist historian George Woodcock , "Wilde's aim in The Soul of Man Under Socialism

33775-420: The words which echo Locke that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to insure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ." Liberalism comes in many forms. According to John N. Gray , the essence of liberalism

33968-501: The work of Gilbert Simondon on individuation and also upon similar ideas in Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud . For Stiegler, "the I , as a psychic individual, can only be thought in relationship to we , which is a collective individual. The I is constituted in adopting a collective tradition, which it inherits and in which a plurality of I ' s acknowledge each other's existence." Individualism holds that

34161-640: The workers that came from Europe in the 2 first decades of the century, there was curiously some stirnerian individualists influenced by the philosophy of Nietzsche , that saw syndicalism as a potential enemy of anarchist ideology. They established [...] affinity groups that in 1912 came to, according to Max Nettlau , to the number of 20. In 1911 there appeared, in Colón , the periodical El Único , that defined itself as 'Publicación individualista'". Murray Bookchin criticized individualist anarchism for its opposition to democracy and its embrace of " lifestylism " at

34354-598: The world are from economically developing regions such as the Middle East and Northern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-East Asia, Central Asia and Central America. An earlier analysis by Ruth Benedict in her book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword states that societies and groups can differ in the extent to which they are based upon predominantly "self-regarding" (individualistic, and/or self-interested) behaviors, rather than "other-regarding" (group-oriented, and group, or society-minded) behaviors. Ruth Benedict made

34547-420: The world. Moral subjectivism is that species of moral relativism that relativizes moral value to the individual subject. Horst Matthai Quelle was a Spanish-language German anarchist philosopher influenced by Max Stirner . Quelle argued that since the individual gives form to the world, he is those objects, the others and the whole universe. One of his main views was a "theory of infinite worlds" which for him

34740-591: Was elected president in 2021 . Libertarian socialism encompasses both the libertarian wing of socialism and the socialist wing of libertarianism , including many different schools of thought under its banner. The most commonly cited tendencies of libertarian socialism are anarchist communism , anarcho-syndicalism and council communism . Other Marxist strands of libertarian socialism include Western Marxism , Bordigism and impossibilism . Additionally, utopian socialism , guild socialism , socialist feminism and social ecology , as well as various strands of

34933-548: Was also an important anti-slavery activist and became a member of the First International . Some Boston anarchists, including Benjamin Tucker, identified themselves as socialists , which in the 19th century was often used in the sense of a commitment to improving conditions of the working class (i.e. " the labor problem "). The Boston anarchists such as Tucker and his followers continue to be considered socialists due to their opposition to usury. They do so because as

35126-434: Was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic , surveyor, historian, philosopher and leading transcendentalist , who is best known for his book Walden , a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience , an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. Later, Benjamin Tucker fused Stirner's egoism with

35319-477: Was an early pioneer of anarchism as well as of the important individualist anarchist current of mutualism . Stirner became a central figure of individualist anarchism through the publication of his seminal work The Ego and Its Own which is considered to be "a founding text in the tradition of individualist anarchism". Important currents within European individualism include free love and naturism . From

35512-413: Was born in France . The modern foundations of libertarian socialism lay in the utopian socialism expounded by Charles Fourier , Robert Owen and Henri de Saint-Simon , who envisioned a democratic socialism guided by communitarianism , moralism and feminism . Libertarian socialism first emerged from the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), after it

35705-407: Was developed by pre-socratic philosophers . Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The term comes from Latin solus ("alone") and ipse ("self"). Solipsism as an epistemological position holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure. The external world and other minds cannot be known, and might not exist outside the mind. As

35898-441: Was editor of the individualist anarchist magazine Nosotros in which many works of Armand and Ryner appeared. He also participated in the publishing of another individualist anarchist maganize Al Margen: Publicación quincenal individualista . In his youth, he engaged in illegalist activities. His thought was deeply influenced by Max Stirner, of which he was the main popularizer in Spain through his own writings. He published and wrote

36091-568: Was expelled from the organisation by the Marxist faction at the Hague Congress of 1872. The libertarian socialist Mikhail Bakunin had rejected Karl Marx 's calls for a " dictatorship of the proletariat ", as he predicted it would only create a new ruling class , composed of a privileged minority, which would use the state to oppress the working classes. He concluded that: "no dictatorship can have any other aim than to perpetuate itself, and it can only give rise to and instill slavery in

36284-590: Was more closely related to the French currents. Around the start of the 20th century, individualism in Spain gathered force through the efforts of people such as Dorado Montero, Ricardo Mella , Federico Urales , Miguel Giménez Igualada , Mariano Gallardo and J. Elizalde who translated French and American individualists. Important in this respect were also magazines such as La Idea Libre , La Revista Blanca , Etica , Iniciales , Al margen , Estudios and Nosotros . The most influential thinkers there were Max Stirner , Émile Armand and Han Ryner . Just as in France,

36477-416: Was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and LGBT activist John Henry Mackay . Josiah Warren is widely regarded as the first American anarchist and The Peaceful Revolutionist , the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, was the first anarchist periodical published. For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, "[i]t is apparent [...] that Proudhonian Anarchism

36670-548: Was represented in the early twentieth century anti-colonial movement by Bhagat Singh . Russian libertarian socialists, including anarchists , populists and left socialist-revolutionaries , led the opposition to the Tsarist autocracy throughout the late-19th century. They created a network of both clandestine and legal organisations throughout Russia, with the aim of overthrowing the Russian nobility and bringing land under

36863-473: Was taking place if they were not. The theory was that unregulated banking would cause more money to be available and that this would allow proliferation of new businesses which would in turn raise demand for labor. This led Tucker to believe that the labor theory of value would be vindicated and equal amounts of labor would receive equal pay. Later in his life, Tucker grew skeptical that free competition could remove concentrated capital. While anarcho-capitalism

37056-422: Was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews . [...] William B. Greene presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form". Henry David Thoreau was an important early influence in individualist anarchist thought in the United States and Europe. Thoreau

37249-555: Was widely read by members of anarcho-communist groups and by members of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union CNT . There were also the cases of prominent individualist anarchists such as Federico Urales and Miguel Giménez Igualada who were members of the CNT and J. Elizalde who was a founding member and first secretary of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (IAF). Between October 1937 and February 1938, Spanish individualist anarchist Miguel Giménez Igualada

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