Core value - liberty

State, society, economy, HN

Liberty - definition

• Being truly free to pursue and explore one’s choice

• Entails freedom from

  • State

    • Coercive, compels individuals to act against their wishes

  • Hierarchical social relationships imposed by the State

    • Church

    • Class

    • Gender

    • Ethnicity

Role of liberty

• Allows humans to self-govern and then a natural order to develop

Individualist anarchists - HN and therefore views on liberty

• HN: rational, self-reliant

• Liberty: individuals should be able to make decisions for themselves and explore their individuality

  • In anarchist society, liberty is the free association of individuals (Stirner - Union of Egoists)

• Economics: totally free market

Anarcho-capitalist - views on liberty

• Liberty = free market

Collectivist anarchists - HN and therefore views on liberty

• HN: rational, sociable, cooperative, altruistic

• Liberty: freedom from external forces (like capitalism)

Collectivist v individualist perspectives

• Both: state is a threat to liberty

• Collectivist: liberty linked to equality and mutual aid

• Individualist: liberty linked to personal autonomy and freedom from interference

State’s support of capitalism

• Undermines and prevents liberty (as does any economic system imposed by a compulsory state)

• Liberty can only exist when power is shared equally and people work as part of a community (Bakunin)

• People are more than the sum of their parts (Proudhon)

Stirner quote

“I am free in no state”

Liberty and inequality

• Ineqality creates dependence and domination which restricts freedom

• Therefore liberty should include freedom from economic and social inequality

Summary

• Incompatibility of liberty and the state

  • Laws, bureaucracy and police restrict freedom through force and surveillance

  • Liberty needs volutary cooperation and self govt, which isn’t possible under coercion