Philosophical Anarchism

Anarchism is another of the more interesting philosophies to have emerged from the early industrial period. The main idea of anarchism is that government regulation of individuals is immoral. In philosophical anarchism - the structure devised by Pierre Joseph Proudhon - each member of a society would fulfill his or her obligations simply as a social responsibility. In this model property would be held in common ownership of the whole society based on free agreements, sort of a giant honor system. This form of anarchism has been the pattern for some communal-type societies.

Legend has it that this type of social structure was actually used in early history before organized governments emerged. It is known that Anarchism was used in the early Christian Church and several ancient Greek references to it, including those of Plato, exist.

It does not seem that anarchism would function well in a large society because it would require a great deal of training for each member of the society so that they would clearly understand their social obligations and responsibilities. For anarchism to be successful would require that every member of a society live up to his or her social obligations. This is the fundamental flaw in all social systems but some systems address this point more successfully than others do.