Navigation

Tag Archives | Anarchy

Post-Aynalytic Philosophy

By on May 18, 2011 16

Libertarianism and Modern Philosophers

Immediately after you finish David Gordon’s aforementioned online course on “Ayn Rand and Objectivism,” you can start his online course on “Libertarianism and Contemporary Philosophy.” (The poster says “Libertarianism and Modern Philosophers,” but since in academic parlance modernity begins with the Renaissance, and courses on “modern” political philosophy would generally be expected to focus on folks like Hobbes and Locke, I’m going with the title at the top of the course’s announcement page rather than the title on the poster.)

The course will deal with the arguments pro and con of inter alia John Rawls, Gerry Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, Thomas Nagel, Robert Nozick, and Jan Narveson – as well as, yes, the argumentation ethics of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. (That’s Rawls in the pic, not David, btw.)

To Serve and Protect

By on May 13, 2011 3

Okay, time for the big contest. How can private property be protected? Who can help Sean Power recover his stolen laptop?

cop versus doughnut

In this corner we have the universally hailed champion, a vertically-structured coercive institution known as the Police.

In the other corner we have the challenger, a horizontally-structured voluntary institution known as the Internet.

The clock has started! The race is on! And okay, I’m mixing boxing with racing metaphors, but whatever. Which of these contenders will resolve Sean’s problem first?

Right now the champion is just sitting there. And … still sitting there. Is he formulating a strategy? No, he seems to be … eating a doughnut.

What about the challenger? Oh, look. (CHT Charles.)

Niall’s Saga

By on May 1, 2011 8

Turns out if Niall Ferguson had the Ring, he’d use it to abolish all Rings. (CHT Gary.)

I don’t think you can get rid of top-down hierarchical systems via a top-down hierarchical method. That’s why counter-economics makes better sense in terms of political strategy. Still, coming from the laudator imperii it’s a move in the right direction. (Though the notion that rulership was indispensable prior to recent developments in information technology is rather difficult to defend in the light of actual history.)

Gary’s Conscience Is For Sale

By on April 29, 2011 3

Conscience of an Anarchist

Gary Chartier’s excellent book Conscience of an Anarchist has been available for a couple of months, but I’m only getting around to plugging it now. Plug, plug.

Some endorsements:

“I’m absolutely giddy about The Conscience of an Anarchist; this book could electrify a generation!” – Brad Spangler (Center for a Stateless Society)

“Given the popular myth that anarchists are masked kids in Circle-A T-shirts smashing windows, this book couldn’t have come at a better time. Clear and easy to understand, it’s the best basic explication of anarchist ideas since Alexander Berkman’s The ABC of Anarchism.” – Kevin A. Carson (author, The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand)

“The best of the political ‘conscience’ books.” – Stephan Kinsella (Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom)

“Anarchism, it has been said, is the radical notion that other people are not your property. Gary Chartier eloquently demonstrates that, far from being a recipe for disorder – as the centers of power self-servingly wish us to believe – anarchism is rather the surest foundation for social cooperation, freedom, prosperity, and peace.” – Sheldon Richman (author, Tethered Citizens)

Gratitude Attitude, Part 2

By on April 29, 2011 3

If you love freedom thank an anarchist

Are you sick of those t-shirts that say “If you love freedom thank a veteran”?

Check out the Molinari Institute’s newest t-shirt, which reads “If you love freedom thank an anarchist,” thus honouring both those anarchists who’ve been in the forefront of struggles for freedom in the past (e.g. the movements against slavery, against censorship, against conscription, for women’s rights, for sexual freedom, etc.) and those anarchists who are working even now to extend our freedom still further.

I’m trying to create a button as well, but so far the CafePress software is defeating me (though I’m doing exactly what I did to create our previous button); watch this space.

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes