definitions

Notes on Anarchy and Hegemony in the Realm of Definitions

Notes on Anarchy and Hegemony in the Realm of Definitions

From Libertarian Labyrinth by Shawn P. Wilbur

The notes that follow are preliminary, as I try to bring together a number of considerations regarding vocabulary, definition, theoretical clarity and such. They begin with some questions raised about the translation of Proudhon’s work, pass through a discussion of Proudhon’s own approach to the definition of key terms — which I hope will be useful as we begin reading and discussion of Justice in the Revolution and in the Church — and end with some general thoughts about anarchists’ engagement with the question of definition in the present.

Privation

From Constructing an Anarchism by Shawn P. Wilbur

Privation is a state in which the essentials are lacking. That may seem like a strange place to begin constructing an anarchism, but perhaps not when we remind ourselves that the prefix “an-” is a privative prefix. When we find a concept shaped by that prefix, we should expect to find privation, the lack or absence of something fundamental or essential. There may be exceptions, since we do all sorts of things with language, but, in general, we do not mark the absence of the merely incidental or inessential.

A Schematic Anarchism (Introduction)

from Libertarian Labyrinth by Shawn P. Wilbur

As long as we are constructing anarchisms for our own use, we can pretty much do what we want with terminology, provided that the uses we make are clarifying for us, in the context of our own specific contexts and commitments. When we turn to the comparison of anarchisms and the translation between them, the demands are obviously different. Our individual anarchisms may exhibit small inconsistencies or they may be almost wholly incommensurable — and our lack of not just a well-developed common language, but often even any kind of lingua franca, can make it hard to judge the extent to which they can be brought into conversation with one another.

Polity-form (External constitution)

from Libertarian Labyrinth

In attempting to distinguish between the approaches that seem to me more consistently anarchistic and those that seem to cling to some form of archy, I have proposed the notion of the polity-form as an descriptor for more or less fixed, static associations or organizations including the governmental state, the capitalist firm, the patriarchal family, “the People” within a democracy, the commune in some descriptions of communism, the individual in the context of some forms of individualism, etc. All of these are in some sense both hierarchical, authoritarian and, to some extent, representative structures.

Anarchy: Action in the Face of Uncertainty

From The Libertarian Labyrinth

By Shawn P. Wilbur

These preliminary, exploratory writings are always half pleasure, half drudgery for me. You can have the right elements in hand and still require a lot of experimenting before they are anything like an elegant ensemble. With this series on “Defining Anarchy,” I’m conscious, not for the first time, that between the simplest and most abstract sorts of definitions and those that we might really apply in practical terms there are a variety of clarifications regarding present contexts and future possibilities that need to be made.

Is it right to brand 2019 clashes in UK and Hong Kong anarchy?

from itv.com

From the summer protest-led chaos across UK cities to the ongoing violent clashes in Hong Kong, scenes of anarchy appear alive in 2019.

Demonstrators in Hong Kong were branded anarchists by The South China Morning Post after mobilising in the streets to fight for the rights of citizens.

TOTW: civ or anti-civ, and models for behaviour...

What is the ratio here of civ to anti-civ folks? What are you, dear reader? What does civilization mean to you, and what does anti-civ mean? And a different but related question: what model do you base a better human world on? Ants? Bees? Plants? Bacteria? Better humans than the ones who surround you? Software? Programmers? What actual interactions that exist in the world do you think give a good picture of what people/anarchists could/would do with each other in a better world?

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