Submitted by 6u5cbz14R8_4z36Aq7Y22 in AskRaddle (edited )
Hi Raddle,
For most of my life I've felt a general apathy for politics. At the very least I found/find it hard to take the choice of voting for an unrepresentative gaggle of candidates every 4 years seriously. This was I think also spurred on by an unexplained (i.e not based on any formal discussion or reading) distaste for authority, i.e any and all assaults on the will, e.g the heavy hand of the state. As my academic and professional life have led me elsewhere, such feelings have for the most part been left unexamined and thus unabated.
Recently though - like most - I've found myself with some time to spare so began exploring. From my limited understanding it seems - unsurprisingly - most of what I feel has been addressed by the Anarchist literature. To better my own understanding, how should I best parse through this?
I think in order to be productive it makes sense to list some questions that have arisen in my admittedly limited reading and hopefully get some recommendations from those with more experience. Apologies if this is 101 type stuff. I hope someone out there is willing to help.
- In what ways is the state "banditry under the guise of law"? Put in Agorist terms, what are concrete examples of the state participating in grey/red markets?
- How is the law enforced in a decentralised or non statist society? Put more generally, how is collective morality codified?
- What literature is available discussing the value proposition of acquisition of wealth, entertainment, products etc. vs providing for ones basic needs (housing, food etc)? I have an inherit assumption the former is of greater value but I would like to delve deeper to understand why I think this. Historical accounts, qual/quant statistics would be helpful here.
- How would one combat anarchist nihilism and is this even necessary? I.e how reasonable do you find this position?
- How profound is the impact of the state on shaping our individual metaphysics? If so, how is that achieved? I am particularly interested in readings on this topic.
Thanks in advance for anyone taking the time to read and reply.
catachresis wrote
I think these are all really good questions. I'll do my best to answer what I can, but I'm sure others will have more concise answers.
The state has cops.
This implies there is a collective morality, but what is right for one person might be wrong to another. Anarchism, to me, is about working to remove the things that hold power over our lives. Violence arises when an individual or group's needs aren't being met. I think anarchism puts the onus on the individual to develop their own needs outside of the state, so we can work to strive without a state. Human's have been supported by states for thousands of years, which means thousands of years of unlearning.
Not sure about this because I have a hard time reading a lot. Marx perhaps?
I have a hard time with this too, but I think the general idea is that nihilism is supposed to set you free instead of alienating. I would like to learn more about this too.
I think I touched on this above. That's a big question that I'm not prepared to answer. I would say very profound. How does the state influence our metaphysics? The state's unconditional support and enforcement of capitalism paired with the inherent inability to escape the state impact everyone.