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University of California Press

About the Book

In Defense of Anarchism is a 1970 book by the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff, in which the author defends individualist anarchism. He argues that individual autonomy and state authority are mutually exclusive and that, as individual autonomy is inalienable, the moral legitimacy of the state collapses.


In Defense of Anarchism is a 1970 book by the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff, in which the author defends individualist anarchism. He argues that individual autonomy and state authority are mutually exclusive and that, as individual autonomy is inalienable

About the Author

Robert Paul Wolff is is an American political philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Among his books are About Philosophy (1998), The Ideal of the University (1992), The Autonomy of Reason (1990), Kant's Theory of Mental Activity (1990), and Moneybags Must Be So Lucky (1988).

Reviews

"A deep and provocative discussion of some of the most fundamental issues in political philosophy, written crisply, with candor, in a style that I find very winning. It is a most useful book, and a very good one."—Carl Cohen, author of Communism, Fascism, and Democracy

"An engrossing introduction to current questions of political legitimacy, consent, deliberative democracy, the basis of majority rule, workers collectives, etc., that have been taken up by contemporary political theorists."—Georgia Warnke, author of Justice and Interpretation

"
To entitle a book In Defense of Anarchism simply requires chutzpah. To do it well requires some intelligence. Professor Wolff has both. Anarchy, being generally relegated to the ideological dust-bin or drafted as fodder for editorializing blasts, has long been in need of an intelligent reassessment. Wolff's brief book attempts this by taking the reader along a political via dolorosa which begins with his own innocent belief in 'traditional democratic doctrines.'"—Lawrence S. Stepelevich, author of The New Scholasticism