Tag: Anarchism

Buddhism

Can an Anarchist Take Refuge?

The first of the Bodhisattva vows is to liberate all sentient beings (from suffering) and it isnโ€™t a stretch to include sociopolitical liberation in that goal. It shouldnโ€™t come as a surprise, then, that Buddhist anarchism has been a small, but persistent undercurrent within Buddhism and anarchism throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. One may wonder, however, whether it is really possible to be both a Buddhist and an anarchist, although this very much depends on the definitions of โ€œBuddhistโ€ and โ€œanarchistโ€. The term โ€œanarchismโ€ suggests that an anarchist opposes or rejects (แผ€ฮฝ-) (coercive/opaque) power/authority (แผ€ฯฯ‡ฮฎ) and the institutionalization thereof...
Philosophy

Anarchism as Metaphilosophy

Near the end of the prologue of Platoโ€™s Republic, Socrates says to his opponent Thrasymachus that what they are discussing is โ€œno ordinary/insignificant matter, but how we ought to liveโ€ (1.352d). As in many of Platoโ€™s writings, Socrates here played the role of his mouthpiece: โ€œHow we ought to liveโ€ was indeed no insignificant matter for Plato, but the starting point and ultimate purpose of his philosophical investigations. Relegating the pre-Socratic philosophers to the disciplineโ€™s prehistory, it is sometimes suggested that Western philosophy started with Plato. Alfred North Whitehead even claimed that the history of Western philosophy โ€œconsists of a...