anarchy
Sign in to saveAnarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can more precisely refer to societies that lack any form of authority or hierarchy. While viewed positively by anarchists, the primary advocates of anarchy, it is viewed negatively by advocates of statism, who see it in terms of social disorder.
AI overview
Anarchy is a form of society without rulers or government, in which there is no centralized authority claiming a monopoly on violence over a territory. It matters because people have fundamentally different views about whether such a system could work—anarchists see it as a positive alternative to government, while those who support the state view it as inevitably leading to chaos and disorder.
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Article
15 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Conceptual development
- Classical philosophy
- Post-classical development
- Enlightenment philosophy
- Kant's thought experiment
- Defense of the state of nature
- Anarchist thought
- Proudhon
- Bakunin
- Contemporary debates
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
Anarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can more precisely refer to societies that lack any form of authority or hierarchy. While viewed positively by anarchists, the primary advocates of anarchy, it is viewed negatively by advocates of statism, who see it in terms of social disorder.
The word "anarchy" was first defined by Ancient Greek philosophy, which understood it to be a corrupted form of direct democracy, where a majority of people exclusively pursue their own interests. This use of the word made its way into Latin during the Middle Ages, before the concepts of anarchy and democracy were disconnected from each other in the wake of the Atlantic Revolutions. During the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers began to look at anarchy in terms of the "state of nature", a thought experiment used to justify various forms of hierarchical government. By the late 18th century, some philosophers began to speak in defence of anarchy, seeing it as a preferable alternative to existing forms of tyranny. This lay the foundations for the development of anarchism, which advocates for the creation of anarchy through decentralisation and federalism.