Post-anarchism or postanarchism is an anarchist
philosophy that employs post-structuralist
and postmodernist approaches (the term post-structuralist
anarchism is used as well, so as not to suggest
having moved beyond anarchism).
Post-anarchism is not a single coherent theory,
but rather refers to the combined works of
any number of post-modernists and post-structuralists
such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques
Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Jean Baudrillard;
postmodern feminists such as Judith Butler;
and alongside those of classical anarchist
and libertarian philosophers such as Zhuang
Zhou, Emma Goldman, Max Stirner, and Friedrich
Nietzsche.
Thus, the terminology can vary widely in both
approach and outcome.
== Approaches ==
The term "post-anarchism" was coined by philosopher
of post-left anarchy Hakim Bey in his 1987
essay "Post-Anarchism Anarchy".
Bey argued that anarchism had become insular
and sectarian, confusing the various anarchist
schools of thought for the real experience
of lived anarchy.
In 1994, academic philosopher Todd May initiated
what he called "poststructuralist anarchism",
arguing for a theory grounded in the post-structuralist
understanding of power, particularly through
the work of Michel Foucault and Emma Goldman,
while taking the anarchist approach to Ethics.
The "Lacanian anarchism" proposed by Saul
Newman utilizes the works of Jacques Lacan
and Max Stirner more prominently.
Newman criticizes classical anarchists, such
as Michael Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin, for
assuming an objective "human nature" and a
natural order; he argues that from this approach,
humans progress and are well-off by nature,
with only the Establishment as a limitation
that forces behavior otherwise.
For Newman, this is a Manichaen worldview,
which depicts the reversal of Thomas Hobbes'
Leviathan, in which the "good" state is subjugated
by the "evil" people.
Lewis Call has attempted to develop post-anarchist
theory through the work of Friedrich Nietzsche,
rejecting the Cartesian concept of the "subject."
From here, a radical form of anarchism is
made possible: the anarchism of becoming.
This anarchism does not have an eventual goal,
nor does it flow into "being"; it is not a
final state of development, nor a static form
of society, but rather becomes permanent,
as a means without end.
Italian autonomist Giorgio Agamben has also
written about this idea.
In this respect it is similar to the "complex
systems" view of emerging society known as
panarchy.
Call critiques liberal notions of language,
consciousness, and rationality from an anarchist
perspective, arguing that they are inherent
in economic and political power within the
capitalist state organization.
== See also ==
Existentialist anarchism
