Can an Anarchist Take Refuge?
The first of the Bodhisattva vows is to liberate all sentient beings (from suffering) and it isnโt a stretch to include sociopolitical liberation in that goal. It shouldnโt 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 โBuddhistโ and โanarchistโ. The term โanarchismโ suggests that an anarchist opposes or rejects (แผฮฝ-) (coercive/opaque) power/authority (แผฯฯฮฎ) and the institutionalization thereof...
Anarchism as Metaphilosophy
Near the end of the prologue of Platoโs Republic, Socrates says to his opponent Thrasymachus that what they are discussing is โno ordinary/insignificant matter, but how we ought to liveโ (1.352d). As in many of Platoโs writings, Socrates here played the role of his mouthpiece: โHow 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 disciplineโs prehistory, it is sometimes suggested that Western philosophy started with Plato. Alfred North Whitehead even claimed that the history of Western philosophy โconsists of a...