The Poverty of Autonomy
The Failure of Wolff's Defence of Anarchism
Baugh, Graham
http://www.ditext.com/baugh/wolff.html
Date Written: 1985-09-01
Publisher: Our Generation
Year Published: 1985
Pages: 14pp Resource Type: Article
An examination of the ethical theory underlying Wolff's work which concludes that his contribution fails as a defense of anarchism.
Abstract:
Both advocates of state authority and anarchists have found Robert Paul Wolff's arguments in "In Defence of Anarchism" unsatisfactory. Wolff himself has admitted that in formulating his argument he has "simply taken for granted an entire ethical theory." It is only in his later work, "The Autonomy of Reason," that Wolff sketches out the ethical theory upon which the arguments of "In Defense of Anarchism" ultimately depend. A proper understanding of Wolff's anarchism and its inadequacies therefore requires an analysis of his arguments in relation to this ethical theory.
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