(June 27, 2015 at 6:28 pm)nihilistcat Wrote: So for me, anarchism represents an ethical position, a moral system, as opposed to a political theory or schematic for a utopian society (many anarchists reject the idea of utopianism). It's something that says authoritarianism is not self-justifying. Whether we're talking about our personal relationships (like the relationship between men and women) or our institutional relationships (boss worker, cop citizen, government bureaucrat and citizen, etc.), we first seek to identify unjustifiable incidents of authoritarianism, and then challenge them (usually through different forms of activism and direct action).
I accept and use anarchist and libertarian principles in this vain, but only as a compass for maximizing liberty. I agree with both Hobbes' and Mill's assessments and their basis that a functional society must constrain absolute liberty, but only to the extent that the rights of individuals are protected and that the common good is maximized and interference from other individuals or the state is minimized. By common good I mean the Enlightenment principle and not its more modern incarnation of wholesale egalitarianism.
