If I want everyone to be a friend to everyone, am I an anarchist?












0















I am not defining friendship. It's easier to say what is not friendship. In most aspects there are some signifiers of friendship. What language do you use, how do you treat people, what do you feel. People are not going to use formal language in a friendly conversation. People experience compassion towards their friends. People do not treat each other as property if they are friends.



There are several other things friends do not do to each other.



But an important one is that friends do not rule each other. They don't think of each other as of subordinates. Doesn't it make my idea a type of anarchy?










share|improve this question


















  • 1





    I could be friends with a somewhat narcissistic individual who does frequently "rule" me... There are many interpersonal dynamics your friendship model would not allow, as such it is too simple and restrictive. As for anarchy, it does not mean that if I accept "anarchy" in my sphere of friends, that I would allow it in a political sphere. Even if I am a friend to everyone I can still expect my friends to behave differently in certain aspects of social interaction: political, economic, professional, etc.

    – christo183
    2 days ago











  • @christo Economic, political, professional, academical, etc. is invented for non-friends. The idea is that people never play social roles. Regarding narcissic individuals, they simply need to learn to love themselves without admiration.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago













  • It's more like 'humanism'

    – Richard
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @Richard Humanism makes too much claims that I do not. Also, there is a plenty of humanists, but what they find valuable are papers like declarations and so on. I find their greatest value in toilet. Papers are nothing to me, only mental contents are what I pay attention to.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago











  • How can you tell me that friends have no authority over each other without defining friendship? Friends don't say false things!

    – elliot svensson
    2 days ago
















0















I am not defining friendship. It's easier to say what is not friendship. In most aspects there are some signifiers of friendship. What language do you use, how do you treat people, what do you feel. People are not going to use formal language in a friendly conversation. People experience compassion towards their friends. People do not treat each other as property if they are friends.



There are several other things friends do not do to each other.



But an important one is that friends do not rule each other. They don't think of each other as of subordinates. Doesn't it make my idea a type of anarchy?










share|improve this question


















  • 1





    I could be friends with a somewhat narcissistic individual who does frequently "rule" me... There are many interpersonal dynamics your friendship model would not allow, as such it is too simple and restrictive. As for anarchy, it does not mean that if I accept "anarchy" in my sphere of friends, that I would allow it in a political sphere. Even if I am a friend to everyone I can still expect my friends to behave differently in certain aspects of social interaction: political, economic, professional, etc.

    – christo183
    2 days ago











  • @christo Economic, political, professional, academical, etc. is invented for non-friends. The idea is that people never play social roles. Regarding narcissic individuals, they simply need to learn to love themselves without admiration.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago













  • It's more like 'humanism'

    – Richard
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @Richard Humanism makes too much claims that I do not. Also, there is a plenty of humanists, but what they find valuable are papers like declarations and so on. I find their greatest value in toilet. Papers are nothing to me, only mental contents are what I pay attention to.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago











  • How can you tell me that friends have no authority over each other without defining friendship? Friends don't say false things!

    – elliot svensson
    2 days ago














0












0








0








I am not defining friendship. It's easier to say what is not friendship. In most aspects there are some signifiers of friendship. What language do you use, how do you treat people, what do you feel. People are not going to use formal language in a friendly conversation. People experience compassion towards their friends. People do not treat each other as property if they are friends.



There are several other things friends do not do to each other.



But an important one is that friends do not rule each other. They don't think of each other as of subordinates. Doesn't it make my idea a type of anarchy?










share|improve this question














I am not defining friendship. It's easier to say what is not friendship. In most aspects there are some signifiers of friendship. What language do you use, how do you treat people, what do you feel. People are not going to use formal language in a friendly conversation. People experience compassion towards their friends. People do not treat each other as property if they are friends.



There are several other things friends do not do to each other.



But an important one is that friends do not rule each other. They don't think of each other as of subordinates. Doesn't it make my idea a type of anarchy?







political-philosophy terminology






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 2 days ago









rus9384rus9384

1,2772726




1,2772726








  • 1





    I could be friends with a somewhat narcissistic individual who does frequently "rule" me... There are many interpersonal dynamics your friendship model would not allow, as such it is too simple and restrictive. As for anarchy, it does not mean that if I accept "anarchy" in my sphere of friends, that I would allow it in a political sphere. Even if I am a friend to everyone I can still expect my friends to behave differently in certain aspects of social interaction: political, economic, professional, etc.

    – christo183
    2 days ago











  • @christo Economic, political, professional, academical, etc. is invented for non-friends. The idea is that people never play social roles. Regarding narcissic individuals, they simply need to learn to love themselves without admiration.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago













  • It's more like 'humanism'

    – Richard
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @Richard Humanism makes too much claims that I do not. Also, there is a plenty of humanists, but what they find valuable are papers like declarations and so on. I find their greatest value in toilet. Papers are nothing to me, only mental contents are what I pay attention to.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago











  • How can you tell me that friends have no authority over each other without defining friendship? Friends don't say false things!

    – elliot svensson
    2 days ago














  • 1





    I could be friends with a somewhat narcissistic individual who does frequently "rule" me... There are many interpersonal dynamics your friendship model would not allow, as such it is too simple and restrictive. As for anarchy, it does not mean that if I accept "anarchy" in my sphere of friends, that I would allow it in a political sphere. Even if I am a friend to everyone I can still expect my friends to behave differently in certain aspects of social interaction: political, economic, professional, etc.

    – christo183
    2 days ago











  • @christo Economic, political, professional, academical, etc. is invented for non-friends. The idea is that people never play social roles. Regarding narcissic individuals, they simply need to learn to love themselves without admiration.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago













  • It's more like 'humanism'

    – Richard
    2 days ago






  • 1





    @Richard Humanism makes too much claims that I do not. Also, there is a plenty of humanists, but what they find valuable are papers like declarations and so on. I find their greatest value in toilet. Papers are nothing to me, only mental contents are what I pay attention to.

    – rus9384
    2 days ago











  • How can you tell me that friends have no authority over each other without defining friendship? Friends don't say false things!

    – elliot svensson
    2 days ago








1




1





I could be friends with a somewhat narcissistic individual who does frequently "rule" me... There are many interpersonal dynamics your friendship model would not allow, as such it is too simple and restrictive. As for anarchy, it does not mean that if I accept "anarchy" in my sphere of friends, that I would allow it in a political sphere. Even if I am a friend to everyone I can still expect my friends to behave differently in certain aspects of social interaction: political, economic, professional, etc.

– christo183
2 days ago





I could be friends with a somewhat narcissistic individual who does frequently "rule" me... There are many interpersonal dynamics your friendship model would not allow, as such it is too simple and restrictive. As for anarchy, it does not mean that if I accept "anarchy" in my sphere of friends, that I would allow it in a political sphere. Even if I am a friend to everyone I can still expect my friends to behave differently in certain aspects of social interaction: political, economic, professional, etc.

– christo183
2 days ago













@christo Economic, political, professional, academical, etc. is invented for non-friends. The idea is that people never play social roles. Regarding narcissic individuals, they simply need to learn to love themselves without admiration.

– rus9384
2 days ago







@christo Economic, political, professional, academical, etc. is invented for non-friends. The idea is that people never play social roles. Regarding narcissic individuals, they simply need to learn to love themselves without admiration.

– rus9384
2 days ago















It's more like 'humanism'

– Richard
2 days ago





It's more like 'humanism'

– Richard
2 days ago




1




1





@Richard Humanism makes too much claims that I do not. Also, there is a plenty of humanists, but what they find valuable are papers like declarations and so on. I find their greatest value in toilet. Papers are nothing to me, only mental contents are what I pay attention to.

– rus9384
2 days ago





@Richard Humanism makes too much claims that I do not. Also, there is a plenty of humanists, but what they find valuable are papers like declarations and so on. I find their greatest value in toilet. Papers are nothing to me, only mental contents are what I pay attention to.

– rus9384
2 days ago













How can you tell me that friends have no authority over each other without defining friendship? Friends don't say false things!

– elliot svensson
2 days ago





How can you tell me that friends have no authority over each other without defining friendship? Friends don't say false things!

– elliot svensson
2 days ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















4














In friendship there is a mutual understanding.



These are the definitions of 'anarchy' given in some dictionaries:




A lack of organization and control in a society or group, esp.
because either there is no government or it has no power:



A state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority
or other controlling systems.



Absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual,
regarded as a political ideal.



If you describe a situation as anarchy, you mean that nobody seems
to be paying any attention to rules or laws
.



A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of
governmental authority.




Now you may check these definitions giving importance to the bold words without forgetting the term, 'mutual understanding'. Can you still say this is a type of anarchy? I believe you can't. If so, what you doubted is wrong.



This doubt is because we normally don't need to discuss this type of a weird state and so we don't need to name it. Actually this is a new state. Though there is no physical presence, an invisible governance is happening and it is by 'mutual understanding' among people. So we cannot categorically use the term anarchy.






share|improve this answer


























  • no-one has used the term mutual aid

    – confused
    2 days ago



















2














Anarchism and politics



'Anarchism' as a matter of ordinary discourse is mainly tied to politics. An anarchist society is a voluntary, non-coercive social aggregate. There can be no legitimate government that exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens. Political authority - the entitlement of a government to obedience - is inherently conflictive with individual autonomy, which is seen as an indefeasible value. Autonomy is exercised in precisely the voluntary social aggregates mentioned just above.



This concept of anarchism has to be outlined because it is pretty much, or so I believe, the main sense of the term in ordinary discourse.



Islands of anarchism



This doesn't mean, though, that even in a society where a government - the state - exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens there cannot be social interactions from which coercion is absent. In a commune or a friendship, interactions can be marked by voluntary, non-coercive relationships. In this sense they are islands, small units, of anarchism within an overall coercive society.



**To the extent that your friendships are voluntary and non-coercive, they embody an element of anarchism. I put it this way because I don't think that wanting everyone to be a friend with everyone is necessary for anarchism. In an anarchist society, voluntary, non-coercive relations would hold even between people who were indifferent or antipathetic to each other. Nor, more to your point, is it sufficient. A and B might be friends yet A reject and B accept a supreme coercive power. Friendship dictates politics only up to a point because friends can have different views about the means - the instrumentalities - required or most likely to maintain civil peace and social justice. Whatever our friendship, you may think the state is an abomination while I see it as a means, even if a necessary evil, to promote my social ideals.



Foucault



We have learnt from Foucault that power is present in all social interactions. Friends may exercise power over each other even in ways neither or none recognises. But I don't think this nullifies my point. Anarchism focuses essentially and antagonistically on the supreme coercive power of the state; and a friendship typically avoids any counterpart to this.



Broadly speaking, Foucault was not interested in the kind of power that anarchists traditionally oppose :




a group of institutions and mechanisms which ensure the subservience of the
citizens of a given state . . . [nor] a mode of subjugation, which in contrast to
violence has the form of the rule ... [nor] a general system of domination exerted by
one group over another. (Michel Foucault, t, The History of Sexuality: Vol. 1 An Introduction, London: Allen Lane, 1979 : 92.)




Rather, Foucault holds a 'capillary' notion of power:




Most scholars emphasize the contrast between Foucault's relational conception of power and the more prevalent understanding of power as a property which can be possessed. They stress his sensitivity to the fluctuating network of power relations, his development of the "capillary" conception of
power - a micro-power which permeates all social strata producing and thus
constraining subjectivity - and his notion of bio-power, which he considered
to be an indispensable element in the development of capitalism. Some under-
score his constant endeavor to problematize the "normal," praising Foucault's
success in showing that phenomena which society deems permanent,
inevitable, and universal, are but a specific period's fabrication. Moreover,
commentators tend to agree that Foucault has opened a new path of critical
inquiry. (Neve Gordon, 'Foucault's Subject: An Ontological Reading', Polity, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Spring, 1999), pp. 395-414: 397.)




Dense as this quote is, it sends us in the right direction. Foucault does not see power as a property possessed by individuals or social units such as politicians, bureaucracy and the security forces or Hobbes' sovereign - at least not the power he's interested in - but as relational. A network of interpersonal relations, over which no-one has sole control and of which nobody has complete knowledge - creates us as 'subjects' and provides the language and concepts by which we 'construct' ourselves as persons or agents. It creates our self-understanding.



I am not entirely happy with this language and do not offer to appraise Foucault's idea of the subject - a shifting idea, I should add. My point is only that the anarchist is not as such concerned with Foucault's idea of how 'subjects' are created. The anarchist is concerned with and opposed to supreme coercive power, the entitlement of governments to obedience, and with the right environment in which for individuals to exercise their autonomy. Foucault takes a different (perhaps subtler) view of things, especially about the formation of the individual. But an anarchist need not agree with him; and this answer proceeds, respecting as it should the OP's question, from the viewpoint of the anarchist.






share|improve this answer























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "265"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphilosophy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f59801%2fif-i-want-everyone-to-be-a-friend-to-everyone-am-i-an-anarchist%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    4














    In friendship there is a mutual understanding.



    These are the definitions of 'anarchy' given in some dictionaries:




    A lack of organization and control in a society or group, esp.
    because either there is no government or it has no power:



    A state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority
    or other controlling systems.



    Absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual,
    regarded as a political ideal.



    If you describe a situation as anarchy, you mean that nobody seems
    to be paying any attention to rules or laws
    .



    A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of
    governmental authority.




    Now you may check these definitions giving importance to the bold words without forgetting the term, 'mutual understanding'. Can you still say this is a type of anarchy? I believe you can't. If so, what you doubted is wrong.



    This doubt is because we normally don't need to discuss this type of a weird state and so we don't need to name it. Actually this is a new state. Though there is no physical presence, an invisible governance is happening and it is by 'mutual understanding' among people. So we cannot categorically use the term anarchy.






    share|improve this answer


























    • no-one has used the term mutual aid

      – confused
      2 days ago
















    4














    In friendship there is a mutual understanding.



    These are the definitions of 'anarchy' given in some dictionaries:




    A lack of organization and control in a society or group, esp.
    because either there is no government or it has no power:



    A state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority
    or other controlling systems.



    Absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual,
    regarded as a political ideal.



    If you describe a situation as anarchy, you mean that nobody seems
    to be paying any attention to rules or laws
    .



    A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of
    governmental authority.




    Now you may check these definitions giving importance to the bold words without forgetting the term, 'mutual understanding'. Can you still say this is a type of anarchy? I believe you can't. If so, what you doubted is wrong.



    This doubt is because we normally don't need to discuss this type of a weird state and so we don't need to name it. Actually this is a new state. Though there is no physical presence, an invisible governance is happening and it is by 'mutual understanding' among people. So we cannot categorically use the term anarchy.






    share|improve this answer


























    • no-one has used the term mutual aid

      – confused
      2 days ago














    4












    4








    4







    In friendship there is a mutual understanding.



    These are the definitions of 'anarchy' given in some dictionaries:




    A lack of organization and control in a society or group, esp.
    because either there is no government or it has no power:



    A state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority
    or other controlling systems.



    Absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual,
    regarded as a political ideal.



    If you describe a situation as anarchy, you mean that nobody seems
    to be paying any attention to rules or laws
    .



    A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of
    governmental authority.




    Now you may check these definitions giving importance to the bold words without forgetting the term, 'mutual understanding'. Can you still say this is a type of anarchy? I believe you can't. If so, what you doubted is wrong.



    This doubt is because we normally don't need to discuss this type of a weird state and so we don't need to name it. Actually this is a new state. Though there is no physical presence, an invisible governance is happening and it is by 'mutual understanding' among people. So we cannot categorically use the term anarchy.






    share|improve this answer















    In friendship there is a mutual understanding.



    These are the definitions of 'anarchy' given in some dictionaries:




    A lack of organization and control in a society or group, esp.
    because either there is no government or it has no power:



    A state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority
    or other controlling systems.



    Absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual,
    regarded as a political ideal.



    If you describe a situation as anarchy, you mean that nobody seems
    to be paying any attention to rules or laws
    .



    A state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of
    governmental authority.




    Now you may check these definitions giving importance to the bold words without forgetting the term, 'mutual understanding'. Can you still say this is a type of anarchy? I believe you can't. If so, what you doubted is wrong.



    This doubt is because we normally don't need to discuss this type of a weird state and so we don't need to name it. Actually this is a new state. Though there is no physical presence, an invisible governance is happening and it is by 'mutual understanding' among people. So we cannot categorically use the term anarchy.







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited 2 days ago

























    answered 2 days ago









    SonOfThoughtSonOfThought

    1,62739




    1,62739













    • no-one has used the term mutual aid

      – confused
      2 days ago



















    • no-one has used the term mutual aid

      – confused
      2 days ago

















    no-one has used the term mutual aid

    – confused
    2 days ago





    no-one has used the term mutual aid

    – confused
    2 days ago











    2














    Anarchism and politics



    'Anarchism' as a matter of ordinary discourse is mainly tied to politics. An anarchist society is a voluntary, non-coercive social aggregate. There can be no legitimate government that exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens. Political authority - the entitlement of a government to obedience - is inherently conflictive with individual autonomy, which is seen as an indefeasible value. Autonomy is exercised in precisely the voluntary social aggregates mentioned just above.



    This concept of anarchism has to be outlined because it is pretty much, or so I believe, the main sense of the term in ordinary discourse.



    Islands of anarchism



    This doesn't mean, though, that even in a society where a government - the state - exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens there cannot be social interactions from which coercion is absent. In a commune or a friendship, interactions can be marked by voluntary, non-coercive relationships. In this sense they are islands, small units, of anarchism within an overall coercive society.



    **To the extent that your friendships are voluntary and non-coercive, they embody an element of anarchism. I put it this way because I don't think that wanting everyone to be a friend with everyone is necessary for anarchism. In an anarchist society, voluntary, non-coercive relations would hold even between people who were indifferent or antipathetic to each other. Nor, more to your point, is it sufficient. A and B might be friends yet A reject and B accept a supreme coercive power. Friendship dictates politics only up to a point because friends can have different views about the means - the instrumentalities - required or most likely to maintain civil peace and social justice. Whatever our friendship, you may think the state is an abomination while I see it as a means, even if a necessary evil, to promote my social ideals.



    Foucault



    We have learnt from Foucault that power is present in all social interactions. Friends may exercise power over each other even in ways neither or none recognises. But I don't think this nullifies my point. Anarchism focuses essentially and antagonistically on the supreme coercive power of the state; and a friendship typically avoids any counterpart to this.



    Broadly speaking, Foucault was not interested in the kind of power that anarchists traditionally oppose :




    a group of institutions and mechanisms which ensure the subservience of the
    citizens of a given state . . . [nor] a mode of subjugation, which in contrast to
    violence has the form of the rule ... [nor] a general system of domination exerted by
    one group over another. (Michel Foucault, t, The History of Sexuality: Vol. 1 An Introduction, London: Allen Lane, 1979 : 92.)




    Rather, Foucault holds a 'capillary' notion of power:




    Most scholars emphasize the contrast between Foucault's relational conception of power and the more prevalent understanding of power as a property which can be possessed. They stress his sensitivity to the fluctuating network of power relations, his development of the "capillary" conception of
    power - a micro-power which permeates all social strata producing and thus
    constraining subjectivity - and his notion of bio-power, which he considered
    to be an indispensable element in the development of capitalism. Some under-
    score his constant endeavor to problematize the "normal," praising Foucault's
    success in showing that phenomena which society deems permanent,
    inevitable, and universal, are but a specific period's fabrication. Moreover,
    commentators tend to agree that Foucault has opened a new path of critical
    inquiry. (Neve Gordon, 'Foucault's Subject: An Ontological Reading', Polity, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Spring, 1999), pp. 395-414: 397.)




    Dense as this quote is, it sends us in the right direction. Foucault does not see power as a property possessed by individuals or social units such as politicians, bureaucracy and the security forces or Hobbes' sovereign - at least not the power he's interested in - but as relational. A network of interpersonal relations, over which no-one has sole control and of which nobody has complete knowledge - creates us as 'subjects' and provides the language and concepts by which we 'construct' ourselves as persons or agents. It creates our self-understanding.



    I am not entirely happy with this language and do not offer to appraise Foucault's idea of the subject - a shifting idea, I should add. My point is only that the anarchist is not as such concerned with Foucault's idea of how 'subjects' are created. The anarchist is concerned with and opposed to supreme coercive power, the entitlement of governments to obedience, and with the right environment in which for individuals to exercise their autonomy. Foucault takes a different (perhaps subtler) view of things, especially about the formation of the individual. But an anarchist need not agree with him; and this answer proceeds, respecting as it should the OP's question, from the viewpoint of the anarchist.






    share|improve this answer




























      2














      Anarchism and politics



      'Anarchism' as a matter of ordinary discourse is mainly tied to politics. An anarchist society is a voluntary, non-coercive social aggregate. There can be no legitimate government that exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens. Political authority - the entitlement of a government to obedience - is inherently conflictive with individual autonomy, which is seen as an indefeasible value. Autonomy is exercised in precisely the voluntary social aggregates mentioned just above.



      This concept of anarchism has to be outlined because it is pretty much, or so I believe, the main sense of the term in ordinary discourse.



      Islands of anarchism



      This doesn't mean, though, that even in a society where a government - the state - exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens there cannot be social interactions from which coercion is absent. In a commune or a friendship, interactions can be marked by voluntary, non-coercive relationships. In this sense they are islands, small units, of anarchism within an overall coercive society.



      **To the extent that your friendships are voluntary and non-coercive, they embody an element of anarchism. I put it this way because I don't think that wanting everyone to be a friend with everyone is necessary for anarchism. In an anarchist society, voluntary, non-coercive relations would hold even between people who were indifferent or antipathetic to each other. Nor, more to your point, is it sufficient. A and B might be friends yet A reject and B accept a supreme coercive power. Friendship dictates politics only up to a point because friends can have different views about the means - the instrumentalities - required or most likely to maintain civil peace and social justice. Whatever our friendship, you may think the state is an abomination while I see it as a means, even if a necessary evil, to promote my social ideals.



      Foucault



      We have learnt from Foucault that power is present in all social interactions. Friends may exercise power over each other even in ways neither or none recognises. But I don't think this nullifies my point. Anarchism focuses essentially and antagonistically on the supreme coercive power of the state; and a friendship typically avoids any counterpart to this.



      Broadly speaking, Foucault was not interested in the kind of power that anarchists traditionally oppose :




      a group of institutions and mechanisms which ensure the subservience of the
      citizens of a given state . . . [nor] a mode of subjugation, which in contrast to
      violence has the form of the rule ... [nor] a general system of domination exerted by
      one group over another. (Michel Foucault, t, The History of Sexuality: Vol. 1 An Introduction, London: Allen Lane, 1979 : 92.)




      Rather, Foucault holds a 'capillary' notion of power:




      Most scholars emphasize the contrast between Foucault's relational conception of power and the more prevalent understanding of power as a property which can be possessed. They stress his sensitivity to the fluctuating network of power relations, his development of the "capillary" conception of
      power - a micro-power which permeates all social strata producing and thus
      constraining subjectivity - and his notion of bio-power, which he considered
      to be an indispensable element in the development of capitalism. Some under-
      score his constant endeavor to problematize the "normal," praising Foucault's
      success in showing that phenomena which society deems permanent,
      inevitable, and universal, are but a specific period's fabrication. Moreover,
      commentators tend to agree that Foucault has opened a new path of critical
      inquiry. (Neve Gordon, 'Foucault's Subject: An Ontological Reading', Polity, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Spring, 1999), pp. 395-414: 397.)




      Dense as this quote is, it sends us in the right direction. Foucault does not see power as a property possessed by individuals or social units such as politicians, bureaucracy and the security forces or Hobbes' sovereign - at least not the power he's interested in - but as relational. A network of interpersonal relations, over which no-one has sole control and of which nobody has complete knowledge - creates us as 'subjects' and provides the language and concepts by which we 'construct' ourselves as persons or agents. It creates our self-understanding.



      I am not entirely happy with this language and do not offer to appraise Foucault's idea of the subject - a shifting idea, I should add. My point is only that the anarchist is not as such concerned with Foucault's idea of how 'subjects' are created. The anarchist is concerned with and opposed to supreme coercive power, the entitlement of governments to obedience, and with the right environment in which for individuals to exercise their autonomy. Foucault takes a different (perhaps subtler) view of things, especially about the formation of the individual. But an anarchist need not agree with him; and this answer proceeds, respecting as it should the OP's question, from the viewpoint of the anarchist.






      share|improve this answer


























        2












        2








        2







        Anarchism and politics



        'Anarchism' as a matter of ordinary discourse is mainly tied to politics. An anarchist society is a voluntary, non-coercive social aggregate. There can be no legitimate government that exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens. Political authority - the entitlement of a government to obedience - is inherently conflictive with individual autonomy, which is seen as an indefeasible value. Autonomy is exercised in precisely the voluntary social aggregates mentioned just above.



        This concept of anarchism has to be outlined because it is pretty much, or so I believe, the main sense of the term in ordinary discourse.



        Islands of anarchism



        This doesn't mean, though, that even in a society where a government - the state - exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens there cannot be social interactions from which coercion is absent. In a commune or a friendship, interactions can be marked by voluntary, non-coercive relationships. In this sense they are islands, small units, of anarchism within an overall coercive society.



        **To the extent that your friendships are voluntary and non-coercive, they embody an element of anarchism. I put it this way because I don't think that wanting everyone to be a friend with everyone is necessary for anarchism. In an anarchist society, voluntary, non-coercive relations would hold even between people who were indifferent or antipathetic to each other. Nor, more to your point, is it sufficient. A and B might be friends yet A reject and B accept a supreme coercive power. Friendship dictates politics only up to a point because friends can have different views about the means - the instrumentalities - required or most likely to maintain civil peace and social justice. Whatever our friendship, you may think the state is an abomination while I see it as a means, even if a necessary evil, to promote my social ideals.



        Foucault



        We have learnt from Foucault that power is present in all social interactions. Friends may exercise power over each other even in ways neither or none recognises. But I don't think this nullifies my point. Anarchism focuses essentially and antagonistically on the supreme coercive power of the state; and a friendship typically avoids any counterpart to this.



        Broadly speaking, Foucault was not interested in the kind of power that anarchists traditionally oppose :




        a group of institutions and mechanisms which ensure the subservience of the
        citizens of a given state . . . [nor] a mode of subjugation, which in contrast to
        violence has the form of the rule ... [nor] a general system of domination exerted by
        one group over another. (Michel Foucault, t, The History of Sexuality: Vol. 1 An Introduction, London: Allen Lane, 1979 : 92.)




        Rather, Foucault holds a 'capillary' notion of power:




        Most scholars emphasize the contrast between Foucault's relational conception of power and the more prevalent understanding of power as a property which can be possessed. They stress his sensitivity to the fluctuating network of power relations, his development of the "capillary" conception of
        power - a micro-power which permeates all social strata producing and thus
        constraining subjectivity - and his notion of bio-power, which he considered
        to be an indispensable element in the development of capitalism. Some under-
        score his constant endeavor to problematize the "normal," praising Foucault's
        success in showing that phenomena which society deems permanent,
        inevitable, and universal, are but a specific period's fabrication. Moreover,
        commentators tend to agree that Foucault has opened a new path of critical
        inquiry. (Neve Gordon, 'Foucault's Subject: An Ontological Reading', Polity, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Spring, 1999), pp. 395-414: 397.)




        Dense as this quote is, it sends us in the right direction. Foucault does not see power as a property possessed by individuals or social units such as politicians, bureaucracy and the security forces or Hobbes' sovereign - at least not the power he's interested in - but as relational. A network of interpersonal relations, over which no-one has sole control and of which nobody has complete knowledge - creates us as 'subjects' and provides the language and concepts by which we 'construct' ourselves as persons or agents. It creates our self-understanding.



        I am not entirely happy with this language and do not offer to appraise Foucault's idea of the subject - a shifting idea, I should add. My point is only that the anarchist is not as such concerned with Foucault's idea of how 'subjects' are created. The anarchist is concerned with and opposed to supreme coercive power, the entitlement of governments to obedience, and with the right environment in which for individuals to exercise their autonomy. Foucault takes a different (perhaps subtler) view of things, especially about the formation of the individual. But an anarchist need not agree with him; and this answer proceeds, respecting as it should the OP's question, from the viewpoint of the anarchist.






        share|improve this answer













        Anarchism and politics



        'Anarchism' as a matter of ordinary discourse is mainly tied to politics. An anarchist society is a voluntary, non-coercive social aggregate. There can be no legitimate government that exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens. Political authority - the entitlement of a government to obedience - is inherently conflictive with individual autonomy, which is seen as an indefeasible value. Autonomy is exercised in precisely the voluntary social aggregates mentioned just above.



        This concept of anarchism has to be outlined because it is pretty much, or so I believe, the main sense of the term in ordinary discourse.



        Islands of anarchism



        This doesn't mean, though, that even in a society where a government - the state - exerts or threatens to use coercive power against its citizens there cannot be social interactions from which coercion is absent. In a commune or a friendship, interactions can be marked by voluntary, non-coercive relationships. In this sense they are islands, small units, of anarchism within an overall coercive society.



        **To the extent that your friendships are voluntary and non-coercive, they embody an element of anarchism. I put it this way because I don't think that wanting everyone to be a friend with everyone is necessary for anarchism. In an anarchist society, voluntary, non-coercive relations would hold even between people who were indifferent or antipathetic to each other. Nor, more to your point, is it sufficient. A and B might be friends yet A reject and B accept a supreme coercive power. Friendship dictates politics only up to a point because friends can have different views about the means - the instrumentalities - required or most likely to maintain civil peace and social justice. Whatever our friendship, you may think the state is an abomination while I see it as a means, even if a necessary evil, to promote my social ideals.



        Foucault



        We have learnt from Foucault that power is present in all social interactions. Friends may exercise power over each other even in ways neither or none recognises. But I don't think this nullifies my point. Anarchism focuses essentially and antagonistically on the supreme coercive power of the state; and a friendship typically avoids any counterpart to this.



        Broadly speaking, Foucault was not interested in the kind of power that anarchists traditionally oppose :




        a group of institutions and mechanisms which ensure the subservience of the
        citizens of a given state . . . [nor] a mode of subjugation, which in contrast to
        violence has the form of the rule ... [nor] a general system of domination exerted by
        one group over another. (Michel Foucault, t, The History of Sexuality: Vol. 1 An Introduction, London: Allen Lane, 1979 : 92.)




        Rather, Foucault holds a 'capillary' notion of power:




        Most scholars emphasize the contrast between Foucault's relational conception of power and the more prevalent understanding of power as a property which can be possessed. They stress his sensitivity to the fluctuating network of power relations, his development of the "capillary" conception of
        power - a micro-power which permeates all social strata producing and thus
        constraining subjectivity - and his notion of bio-power, which he considered
        to be an indispensable element in the development of capitalism. Some under-
        score his constant endeavor to problematize the "normal," praising Foucault's
        success in showing that phenomena which society deems permanent,
        inevitable, and universal, are but a specific period's fabrication. Moreover,
        commentators tend to agree that Foucault has opened a new path of critical
        inquiry. (Neve Gordon, 'Foucault's Subject: An Ontological Reading', Polity, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Spring, 1999), pp. 395-414: 397.)




        Dense as this quote is, it sends us in the right direction. Foucault does not see power as a property possessed by individuals or social units such as politicians, bureaucracy and the security forces or Hobbes' sovereign - at least not the power he's interested in - but as relational. A network of interpersonal relations, over which no-one has sole control and of which nobody has complete knowledge - creates us as 'subjects' and provides the language and concepts by which we 'construct' ourselves as persons or agents. It creates our self-understanding.



        I am not entirely happy with this language and do not offer to appraise Foucault's idea of the subject - a shifting idea, I should add. My point is only that the anarchist is not as such concerned with Foucault's idea of how 'subjects' are created. The anarchist is concerned with and opposed to supreme coercive power, the entitlement of governments to obedience, and with the right environment in which for individuals to exercise their autonomy. Foucault takes a different (perhaps subtler) view of things, especially about the formation of the individual. But an anarchist need not agree with him; and this answer proceeds, respecting as it should the OP's question, from the viewpoint of the anarchist.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 2 days ago









        Geoffrey ThomasGeoffrey Thomas

        23.7k22091




        23.7k22091






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to Philosophy Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphilosophy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f59801%2fif-i-want-everyone-to-be-a-friend-to-everyone-am-i-an-anarchist%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            If I really need a card on my start hand, how many mulligans make sense? [duplicate]

            Alcedinidae

            Can an atomic nucleus contain both particles and antiparticles? [duplicate]