Top o' the Stack. One of my better efforts. First in a series.
Robert Paul Wolff's In Defense of Anarchism (Harper 1970, 1976) is a good book by a clear thinker and master expositor. Here is a first batch of interpretive and critical notes. I use double quotation marks when I am quoting an actual person such as Wolff. Single quotation marks are employed for scaring, sneering, and mentioning. I am punctilious to the point of pedantry about the use-mention distinction. Numerals in parentheses denote pages in Wolff's text. 'W' abbreviates 'Wolff.'
1. Overview. W's thesis is that "the concept of a de jure legitimate state" is "vacuous" and that "philosophical anarchism" is "the only reasonable political belief for an enlightened man." (19) W. proceeds by first explaining the concepts of authority and autonomy and then arguing that they are irreconcilable. The upshot is that the state lacks moral justification. This entry is about authority. It will be followed by two more, one on autonomy, and one on their conflict.
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