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Mikhail Bakunin: The Philosophical Basis of His Anarchism
The first English-language philosophical study of Mikhail Bakunin, this book examines the philosophical foundations of Bakunin.
268 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 8, 2016
I enjoyed this book, particularly in terms of the philosophical differences McLaughlin establishes between Marx and Bakunin (naturalism).
October 16, 2008
I should have written this book.
Great philosophical review of Bakunin's oeuvre, but also of anarchism, liberalism and marxism. Beware: includes dry hegelianism and dialectics.
Great philosophical review of Bakunin's oeuvre, but also of anarchism, liberalism and marxism. Beware: includes dry hegelianism and dialectics.
November 23, 2022
In lieu of a proper review:
I'm glad McLaughlin stopped using parentheses and brackets within parenthesized phrases so much -- it makes the reading way too tiring way too fast. Also why insert a passage as a footnote if it's 10 pages long? I really dislike the way the information is organized; at least he did a much better job in Anarchism and Authority.
Anyway, this book is alright. Too much hegelian jargon for my taste in the first part, but part 2 was alright. I was frustrated by the lack of proper discussion of Bakunin's conception of liberty, since it seems weirdly conjoined with a full denial of free will; the relation between both theses could be better explained. The lack of proper discussion of his critique of technocratic forms of government was also frustrating. There was absolutely no discussion of the power-corruption correlation thesis which he expounds in texts such as God and the State, and very few comments with regards to his meta-ethical stances, so be mindful of that as well.
Honestly the best parts were the critiques of Marx's version of materialism and the discussion about Bakunin's naturalism and his conception of science. Those were pretty interesting and they might be useful for further purposes.
If you wanna understand Bakunin's philosophy better without the biography bullshit and if you also happen to have some grasp of German Idealism and Left Hegelianism, you might enjoy this more than I did.
I'm glad McLaughlin stopped using parentheses and brackets within parenthesized phrases so much -- it makes the reading way too tiring way too fast. Also why insert a passage as a footnote if it's 10 pages long? I really dislike the way the information is organized; at least he did a much better job in Anarchism and Authority.
Anyway, this book is alright. Too much hegelian jargon for my taste in the first part, but part 2 was alright. I was frustrated by the lack of proper discussion of Bakunin's conception of liberty, since it seems weirdly conjoined with a full denial of free will; the relation between both theses could be better explained. The lack of proper discussion of his critique of technocratic forms of government was also frustrating. There was absolutely no discussion of the power-corruption correlation thesis which he expounds in texts such as God and the State, and very few comments with regards to his meta-ethical stances, so be mindful of that as well.
Honestly the best parts were the critiques of Marx's version of materialism and the discussion about Bakunin's naturalism and his conception of science. Those were pretty interesting and they might be useful for further purposes.
If you wanna understand Bakunin's philosophy better without the biography bullshit and if you also happen to have some grasp of German Idealism and Left Hegelianism, you might enjoy this more than I did.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews