Its core is the negation - The Anarchist Library

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Its core is the negation
Alejandro de Acosta
AlejandrodeAcosta
Itscoreisthenegation
Spring2013
RetrievedonMarch19,2013from
http://anarchymag.org/index.php/content/current-issue
theanarchistlibrary.org Spring 2013

Iintuittwothingshere:thatpluralismseemstocontinually
revealitsrelativistcoremoreandmoreoften,andthattherev-
elation of the relativist core will make it increasingly easier
for the nihilist position to be stated, with all of its disruptive
Contents
effects. Conversely, as I have suggested, merely stating the ni-
hilist position coherently has effects. I propose that those inter-
estedmakeittheirbusinesstodeploythetriplicity.TowhichI
will immediately add: there will be stupid and parodic versions 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ofthismoment.Forsomeofusthismomentwillbelivedentirely 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
as parody and stupidity. But there will also be, for some, an 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
opportunity to refine what our anarchism has always meant, 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
not as the direction history or society is going in, not as the
truthofatradition,orasanidealofanysort,butasthatwhich
breaks from such orientations in the most absolute sense: the
negating prefixes a-, an-, anti-… anti-politics as a provisional
orientation,branchingoutintocountlessrefusals.13Ourethics
emergesandgivesitselftothoughtonlywherebreaksandre-
fusalsclearasufficientspace.Weknowalmostnothingabout
such spaces, so our ethics might also be defined as the provi-
sional disorientation with which we approach our ways of liv-
ing, the interminable and necessary skepticism that character-
izesourthinking’smotion.
13Speaking for myself, I underestimated the negative in the political
sphere,thepowerofnegativity(theattitudetowardsworld,society,specta-
cle,whateversetsitselfupastheAll).Mytemperamentledmetoemphasize
ethical questions about how to live a life of joy, about the places of affir-
mation(individualism/egoism,theaestheticsensibilitythatneverlies).Ido
thinkonecanaffirmone’sownlife,affirmthenothinginit,sotospeak,as
one resists. Until I realized this, I drifted near this space, but never really
knewit.Iremainedconfusedaboutthenegative,abouttheeffectivenessof
theprefixesa-,an-,anti-…
22 3
ingly unimaginative discussions, as if to systematically shut
downthepossibilityofsuchquestioning?
What these four consequences add up to is perhaps some-
thingontheorderofaparadigmshiftthatsomeofusareper-
haps dimly beginning to perceive. Or perhaps it is much big-
ger and more terrifying than a paradigm shift could ever be.
Rousselleoverestimatestheimportanceandcentralityofpost-
anarchism to anarchist theory (and, needless to say, various
milieus),andhisclaimthathistheorizingafterpost-anarchism
consolidates the shift from pluralist/relativist post-anarchism,
withitsreformistandradicalliberaltendencies,andafullyni-
hilisttheoryexpressingthelatentdestructivecontentofanar-
chism,ismisplaced.Butincreasingemphasisonnihilistideas,
and the increasing prevalence of what could be called nihilist
measures, is a condition that involves us all to some degree.
And we have tried to think it through and respond. The call
foranendtogovernmentinsteadofabetter,moredemocratic,
more egalitarian form of government is ancient. The call for
the abolition of work instead of just, fair, or dignified work is
decadesold,atleast.Howmanyofusnolongercriticizecom-
petition so as to contrast it with cooperation, but because the
victory it offers is laughably meaningless? How many of us
have more or less explicitly shifted from advocating a plural-
ityofgenderstoponderingtheconditionsfortheabolitionof
genderassuch?Whattomakeoftheincreasingoppositionto
programmatism12 and demands in moments of confrontation
andoccupation?
12AusefultermIborrowfromThéorieCommuniste.Astheydefineit:
“atheoryandpracticeofclassstruggleinwhichtheproletariatfinds,inits
drivetowardliberation,thefundamentalelementsofafuturesocialorganisa-
tionwhichbecometheprogrammetoberealised.Thisrevolutionisthusthe
affirmation of the proletariat, whether as a dictatorship of the proletariat,
workers’ councils, the liberation of work, a period of transition, the with-
eringofthestate,generalisedself-management,ora‘societyofassociated
producers’.”“MuchAdoAboutNothing,”inEndnotes1,155.
21
acolossalgap,betweentheimplosion-momentofsocietieslike 1
oursandtheeternalmeaninglessnessofvalueclaimsandmoral
codes. Anti-politics might be said only to address the former, I have always considered my inclination to anarchy to be
while ethical nihilism ultimately invokes the latter. But anti- irreducible to a politics. Anarchist commitments run deeper.
politicsmayalsorevealethicalnihilism;ourwillfulactionmay Theyaremoreintimate,concerningsupposedlypersonalorpri-
acceleratetheex-orimplosionoftheworldtorevealmoreof vatematters;buttheyalsooverflowtheinstrumentalrealmof
themeaninglessnessithasbeendesignedtoconceal. getting things done. Over time, I have shifted from thinking
Thefourthconsequenceisthatnihilismisalsoacondition.It that anarchist commitments are more than a politics to think-
isnotmerelythosewhomakeittheirbusinesstothinkandact ing that they are something other than a politics. I continue
inthe worldthat areliving with nihilism. The forceof ethical toreturntothislatterformulation.Itrequiresthinkingthings
nihilismisnotsomuchinbeingapositiononeadvocatesasin through,notjustpickingateam;itismoredifficulttoarticulate
itsunderminingofothers’claimstocertainty.Ifweareableto anditismoretroublingtoourinheritedcommonsense.1 Ido
dothissometimesitisbecausetherearemanyotherswho,in notthinkIamaloneinthis.Ithasoccurredtosomeofustoreg-
arapidlydecomposingsociety,moreorlessconsciouslygrasp isterthisfeelingofothernessbycallingouranarchistcommit-
thehollownessineverycodeofaction.Takethispassagefrom mentsanethics.Ithasalsooccurredtosomeofustocallthese
Heideggerasanillustration: commitmentsanti-political.Ithinktheseformulationsare,for
manyofus,implicitlyinterlinked,thoughhardlyinterchange-
Therealmfortheessenceandeventofnihilismis able. What concerns me here in the main is the challenge of
metaphysicsitself,alwaysassumingthatby“meta- whatitcouldmeantoliveoutourcommitmentsasanethics—
physics”wearenotthinkingofadoctrineoronly though I think the relevance of this thinking to anti-politics
ofaspecializeddisciplineofphilosophybutofthe willbeclarifiedaswell.
fundamental structure of beings in their entirety I intentionally write ethics, and not morality: as I see it,
… Metaphysics is the space of history in which it ethics concerns the flourishing of life, the refinement of
becomesdestinyforthesupersensoryworld,ideas, desirablewaysoflife,happylives.Tiqqunputitwell:
God,morallaw,theauthorityofreason,progress,
thehappinessofthegreatestnumber,culture,and When we use the term “ethical” we’re never re-
civilizationtoforfeittheirconstructivepowerand ferringtoasetofpreceptscapableofformulation,
tobecomevoid.11 of rules to observe, of codes to establish. Coming
from us, the word “ethical” designates everything
DareIaddherethatsomethingofthisconditionwasalsoges- havingtodowithforms-of-life.…Noformalethics
turedtowardinafewprecioustextsonpostmodernism,texts ispossible.Thereisonlytheinterplayofforms-of-
which raised tremendous questions about their present, and
byextensionours,onlytobeburiedinanavalancheofincreas-
1“Il senso più comune non è il più vero,” wrote the heretic Giordano
Bruno:“Themostcommonsenseisnotthetruest.”ThetypeofthinkingI
11“Nietzsche’sword:GodisDead,”inOfftheBeatenTrack,165. invokeheretakesitsdistancefromwhattheMassregardsascommonsense.
20 5
lifeamongthemselves,andtheprotocolsofexper- nihilist position into any one practice or set of practices. De-
imentationthatguidethemlocally.2 structivepractices,partialorabsolute,donotfollowmechani-
callyfromnegation.Destructionisnotthepracticalapplication
Many of us have been able to reject morality as a form of ofanegativetheory.Iamcertainlynotsayingthatdestruction
socialcontrol,asthestultifyingpressureoftheMassonus,as is not worthwhile as a practice or set of practices; but I am
imposed or self-imposed limitation on what we do and what saying that nihilists by definition reject the overidentification
we are capable of doing. Much the same could be said for of any practice with their negation of existing moralities and
any ethical universalism which, though emphasizing ways of normativeapproachestoethics.Itismysensethat,oncetheni-
life and not moral codes or injunctions, tends to homogenize hilistpositionexistsassomethingotherthanacaricature,the
waysoflifeinthenameofasharedgood;itdoessobysurrep- other positions will be increasingly undermined from within
titiously presupposing that good and treating it as a natural andwithout.
fact or self-evident transcultural reality. In short, it rejects Thethirdconsequenceisthatethicalnihilismismorethana
transcendent morality only to re-introduce it immanently. theory.Itisawayoflivingandthinking,aform-of-lifeinwhich
Our rejection of this single Good went often enough in the the two are not separate. That Rousselle discusses it only as a
direction of pluralism: the story went that there were many theoryleavesittotherestofustoelaboratewhatelseitis,what
Goods, many valid or desirable forms of life. This seemed itlookslike,assomesay,orhowitispracticed.Itismysense
obvious enough, even intuitive, to many of us. The story thathewasabletowritethisbookbecauseofeventsandsitua-
went well with anarchist principles of decentralization and tionsinhislife,inthemilieu,inotherplaces.SowhenIinvoke
voluntary association, and resonated with many in the years thepracticalaspectofnihilism,havingalreadysaidthatitcan-
whenanti-globalizationrhetoricemphasizedMulticulturalism not be reduced to any practice or set of practices, I mean two
as a practice of resistance and The Local as the site of its things. First, that I mean to underline the unusual tone of all
practice.Italsomadesense,oratleastwasuseful,insofarasit thepracticesofthosethatacceptsomeversionoftheperspec-
wasanefficientwaytocommunicateananarchistperspective tivethatthereisnoOutside(tocapitalism,civilization,orthe
tonon-anarchists,especiallytopotentialanarchists. existent),orthatareprofoundlyskepticalaboutanyproposed
So here we have two different approaches to ethics. One measurestogetOutside.Second,thattospeakofpracticesre-
tries to secure access and orientation to a single flourishing latedtoethicalnihilismcontinuestomakeitseemlikeatheory
form, the criterion being that it be understandable by all: thatendorsesorsuggestsacourseofaction,whileitsinterest
the Good unifies. The other approach claims that there are is precisely that it may not do so. Monsieur Dupont’s phrase
many such forms, and this plurality itself is the criterion: Do Nothing is relevant here: “Do Nothing… was and remains
the Good distributes itself into Goods. Always suspicious of a provocation. […] Do Nothing is an immediate reflection of
universalizing claims, for many years I sided (more or less DoSomethinganditsmoralapparatus.”10Fromweirdpractices
comfortably)withthelatter,participatinginagameofadding to doing nothing: this is precisely the enigmatic space where
anti-politicsconvergeswithethics.Yes,thereisagap,perhaps
2TheoryofBloom,LBCBooksversion,144.Thesephrasescondensean
entiretrajectoryofwritingonethicsthatencompassesDeleuze,Agamben,
andBadiou,beginning,naturally,withSpinozaandNietzsche. 10NihilistCommunism,198.
6 19
advocatearenewalofsociety,animprovementofgovernment -s to the end of words like people, culture, gender, and so
andmanagement(asself-government,self-management),sug- on. Though I was never too concerned to recruit, so that the
gesting pluralist approaches — are likely to refuse to discuss benefits of communicability were irrelevant to me, this game
ormakeexplicittheuniversalistcoreoftheirthought.Others nevertheless seemed linked to an affirmative gesture, affir-
mightadvocatethesamepractices,whileprivatelysensingor mative specifically of difference and plurality in the political
evenadmittingthehollownessofthevaluestheydefend.(One sphere.Therewasalwaysthequestionofrecuperation,i.e.that
disingenuous result of these private/public conflicts is the un- governmental and other institutions so easily incorporated
restrainedimpulsetoactnomatterwhat,asthoughactioncan such pluralism into their functioning as its liberal pole (the
neverbedamagingorcompromised,coupledwithclaimsthat conservative pole, which was always present implicitly at
it is all an experiment, that we are learning as we go, and so least, had to do with norms of governance or rule-following
on.)Thisoffersanewperspectiveontheemergenceandsignif- generally).Forexample,thesedaysuniversityadministrations
icanceofsecond-waveanarchy9 generally,includingpost-Left trumpetMulticulturalismlouderthananyoneelse,andLocally
anarchy, green/anti-civilization anarchy, and, I suppose, post- Sourced is a hot marketing term. This troubled those of us
anarchismaswell,allofwhichmightnowbeseenasattempts who took this side, but we countered by emphasizing what
toanalyzeandrevealthesecontradictions,tomakeexplicitthe could be called raw plurality as opposed to the masticated,
ways in which anarchist discourse was always at war with it- digested,andregurgitatedversionwegotfromadministrators
self. and mouthpieces of all sorts. Choosing pluralism, eagerly or
Thesecondconsequencecomplementsthefirst:anotherset grudgingly, we might have ended up as uneasy relativists; or
of anarchists confuses ethical pluralism with ethical nihilism. we might have been working hard to expand the frontiers of
Here merely stating the ethical nihilist position coherently has liberalism and democracy, there where the word radical finds
effects. In this respect I think of those who might have over- itsmostdocilepartners…3
come the liberal value-set in politics, advocating destruction Ihavecometorealize,afterwhatInowrecognizetobegood
oftheexistent,butcontinuetodriftbacktopluralist/relativist deal of confusion, if not unconscious hedging, that even as I
perspectivesineverydaylifeandproblem-solvingduetoalack laboredonthelimitsofpluralism,mythinkingwasincongru-
ofimagination.Thisprobablyresultsfromunconsciouslyposit- ous with that position. My writing and conversations repeat-
ing a pluralist society as what comes after a destructive mo- edly gestured in the direction of another position, irreducible
ment,whilenotconsciouslyframingdestructiveactionashav- touniversalismandevermoredesperateattemptsatpluralism.
ing any particular goal beyond destruction of the existent. I
should add here that it would be hasty to collapse the ethical
3Itisalsofairtosaythat,sincepluralismissuchakeyaspectofliberal-
ism,manyanarchistssimplyclingtoakindofradicalizedliberalismastheir
9For those not familiar with it, this term was introduced by John ethics,andtheirpolitics,notbecauseofanygapsintheirthinking,butbe-
MooretorefertoanarchisttheoryandpracticeaftertheSituationistInterna- causetheyactuallyareradicalliberals.Theproblem,ofcourse,iseitherthat
tional.ItmightbeconsideredtellingthatMooreofferedtheterminareview theydonotrecognizeit,orthattheywillnotadmitit.AtleastChomsky,in
ofafoundationalpost-anarchistbookbyToddMay.Thereviewwasorigi- the1970lecture“GovernmentintheFuture,”admittedasmuch,advocating
nallypublishedinAnarchistStudies,butIknowitfromazinecalledSecond aconfluenceofradicalMarxismandanarchismas“theproperandnatural
WaveAnarchy. extensionofclassicalliberalismintotheeraofadvancedindustrialsociety.”
18 7
ItisanihilismthatdeniesthevalidityofthesingularGoodat us as lessons—logical lessons about what anarchy means. Its
the heart of universalism, as well as the distinct senses of the coreisthenegation.
Good at the heart of pluralism. For nihilists, the only ethical
gesture is negative: a rejection of the claims to authority of
4
universalism and pluralism. For us, all such claims are empty,
groundless, ultimately meaningless. And this is what was re-
Such logical lessons are useful, arguably necessary, if we
ally at stake in distinguishing ethics and morality. My idea of
wanttodiscardhopeatthisjunctureandthinkwithmoresobri-
a happy life is not something I reason my way to, or choose,
ety. Most of the thinking from this perspective remains to be
butrathersomethingthatmanifestssenselessly…butIcanuse
done. It concerns the conjunctions and disjunctions between
my reasoning (my judgment, even!) to help in pushing back,
several senses of nihilism. First, there are those most familiar
reducing,destroyingeverythingthatblocksmywayoflife.
in the milieu as positions: nihilist anarchy and nihilist com-
Thisreportonwhatmustbenotonlymyowntrajectory,but
munism. Second, there is nihilism as a theoretical concern in
also part of the history of the last twenty-five years (more or
other writers, from Jacobi to Baudrillard. Lastly, there is the
less for some others) is due in part to some crucial pages in
diagnostic sense of nihilism inherited from Nietzsche. Artic-
Duane Rousselle’s After Post-Anarchism that consolidated this
ulating these with the ethical nihilism Rousselle discovers/in-
thought of nihilism for me. Rousselle argues that the nihilist
ventsatthecoreofanarchismwillbeacomplicatedtask,soI
positionIhavejustdescribedhasalwaysbeentheethicalcore
willlimitmyselfheretoanenumerationofprovisionalconse-
ofanarchism,andthatwearenowinamomentwherethismay
quencesstemmingfromwhatIhavewrittensofar.Iofferthese
finallyberecognized.
consequences as a relay from After Post-Anarchism’s provoca-
tions to the thinking that remains to be done: to make it pos-
2 sible, to prepare it as best I know how. The first two conse-
quences suggest how we might deploy the triplicity to under-
I want to respond to After Post-Anarchism because it con- standandcritiquecontemporaryanarchistapproaches.Thelat-
tains that significant provocation. Unfortunately, for most of ter two concern the broader relevance and context for ethical
its readers, this book cannot but be an exotic object. To what- nihilism,settingoutfromtheanarchistcontext.
everdegreeitdiscussesfamiliarideasorevenlivedsituations, The first consequence is that it is now clear that many con-
it does so through arcane routes. Yes, it is difficult reading; temporary anarchists confusedly combine ethical universalism
but it is not by engaging with what is most difficult in it that with ethical pluralism; and ethical universalism with ethical ni-
readers will happen upon the few remarkable insights that it hilism.Inasocietylikeours,onewhoseidealissupposedlylib-
contains.Rousselle’swritingisdifficultbecauseofthedensity eraldemocracy,weshouldexpectpluralistlanguagetobethe
of his references and because of an unfortunate penchant for most likely one in which radicals will offer their analysis and
wordinessanddigression.AlthoughIwouldbethelasttosay proposals.Communityorganizing,consciousness-raising,and
thateveryideaarticulatedintheoreticalorabstracttermscan soon,haveobviouslinkstoliberalismandareatbestitsradi-
alsobephrasedinordinary,so-calledaccessiblelanguage,Isus- calforms.Asaresult,moralistictypes—thosewhopublically
8 17
thecase,thenihilistpositionwillbeknowninthatitexposes pectthatmuchofwhatIfindvaluableinAfterPost-Anarchism
the differend between itself and the others, and between the can indeed be restated otherwise. I intend to do so here. As
othersandthemselves. I noted, this aspect of After Post-Anarchism struck me as an
This is consistent with the basic formulation of nihilism as unusuallyclearformulationofthoughtsIhadbeenstruggling
a negative ethics. Actions taken in its name are always provi- to express for years (among other places, in the pages of this
sional: to reiterate from Theory of Bloom, all we have and all magazine).So,insteadofabroadercritiqueofpost-anarchism
we know is “the interplay of forms-of-life” and “the protocols (whichRoussellehasaknackforfoldingbackintoapleaforits
of experimentation that guide them.” No one knows what the relevance) I will limit myself to some brief remarks about his
world would be like if it were populated with nihilists alone! misprisionoftherespectiverolesoftheoryandpractice.4
Following the previously cited sentence on the negativity at Post-anarchism receives numerous formulations in this
thecoreofthetradition,Roussellecitesoneofhissources,the book, but really only two definitions. The first is simply that
moralphilosopherJ.L.Mackie: it is a “discursive strategy” (31): not so much a theory as the
outcome of ongoing discussions and debates in a theoretical
[W]hat I have called moral scepticism is a neg- space where anarchism, post-structuralism, and new social
ative doctrine, not a positive one: it says what movements (as theorized by their participants and outsiders)
there isn’t, not what there is. It says that there intersect. In this respect I could make many objections or
do not exist entities or relations of a certain kind, clarifications, but I will simply note that for such investiga-
objective values or requirements, which many tions to proceed as Rousselle intends, anarchism (as “classical
people have believed to exist. If [this] position is anarchism,” 4 and passim) must be interpreted as “anarchist
to be at all plausible, [it] must give some account philosophy,”sometimes “traditional anarchist philosophy” (39
of how other people have fallen into what [it] and passim).5 The second definition, which follows from the
regards as an error, and this account will have firstbutismoreprovocative,isthatpost-anarchism“issimply
to include some positive suggestions about how anarchism folded back onto itself” (136). For Rousselle this
values fail to be objective, about what has been means an anarchic questioning of the ethical basis of anar-
mistaken for, or has led to false beliefs about,
objectivevalues.Butthiswillbeadevelopmentof 4Idonotintendtoattackwhatisalltooeasytocriticizeinabook
[the] theory, not its core: its core is the negation. framed as an intervention into post-anarchism, a topic that I am not con-
(99) cernedwith,andwhichIamsureislessthanpopularwiththereadership
ofAJODA.Ihappilyleavethetaskofsettlingtheaccountsofthisbookwith
theproponentsandopponentsofpost-anarchismtothosewhofinditworth-
Inmylanguage,thenegationcorrespondstoethicsasaway
while.IsimilarlyleavetoonesidethediscussionoftherelationofGeorges
oflife;theaccountoferror,towhatIcallacounter-rhetoric.I
Bataille’sideastoethicalnihilisminthebook’sfinalchapter.
praise Rousselle, then, because he contributed to a defense of 5Rousselleonlymakesoccasionalreferencesto“classical”anarchists
whatisnegativeinanarchism,whilealsohintingatadefense otherthanKropotkin,whoishismajorcasestudy.Itakeitthisisbecause
Kropotkinisthoughtofasthemostexplicitlyethicaloftheoriginalanar-
of negativity as such. He makes space for us to read passages
chists,andalsobecausehehasbeentheobjectofsustainedattentionamong
suchastheonebyMackie,above,creatively,offeringthemto
post-anarchists.
16 9
chism,asearchfortheanarchyinanarchism;helaterspecifies Rousselle suggests that, although most post-anarchists
his own version of this folding in terms of the distinction thought they were improving upon anarchism or developing
betweenmanifestandlatentcontentsofstatements. its intuitions, they were in fact rendering it more docile,
HereIcanunderlineboththeweaknessandthepromiseof becausemoreakintoliberalideals;he,ontheotherhand,has
Rousselle’s approach. Whatever the silliness of the term post- revealed its nihilist core, its true and original inclination to
anarchism, I think the second definition’s project of question- anarchy.Theproblemnowbecomes:whenanarchistsdisavow
ing, of folding back reflexively, is of interest to any anarchist this nihilist core, opting for some version of relativism (or
whodoesnottaketheirpositiononquestionsofmoralityand universalism!),howdoweanswerthem?Forthesamereasons
ethics(oranythingelse,forthatmatter)forgranted.Whenhe that I do not take Kropotkin’s or Bakunin’s manifest ideas as
ispursuingthissortofquestioning,Rousselleisathisstrongest. my guides, I do not take what analysis might reveal as their
Whenheistreatingtheanarchisttraditioninterchangeablyas latent content as my guide. And if I do not find this kind of
a series of historical figures, events, practices, etc. and as the argumentation compelling, why would I use it on another?
discursive or conceptual framing that can be abstracted from ThisiswhereRousselle’sintellectualistassumptionsundercut
them(“anarchistphilosophy”),heisathisweakest.Herepeat- the force of his claims. I do think, however, that the ethical
edly falls into the intellectualist trap of describing actions as nihilistpositionisatthecoreofmostanarchistdiscourseand
theresultofpre-existingtheoreticalattitudes.“Canweatleast practice, as its latent content. That is, I think he is basically
provisionally admit,” he asks rhetorically, “that anarchism is right, not specifically about so-called classical anarchism, but,
notatraditionofcanonicalthinkersbutoneofcanonicalprac- proximatelyandforthemostpart,aboutanarchists.Rousselle’s
ticesbasedonacanonicalselectionofethicalpremises?”(129). psychoanalytically inspired method of reading texts should
Freeing himself from the idea of an anarchist movement set be transformed into a rhetoric, or rather a counter-rhetoric,
into motion by a bearded man’s intellect, he remains on the that can intervene in the present more directly. What he
side of the intellect by presupposing of a pre-existing set of does with old texts, others might be able to do with people,
premisesonwhichpracticesare“based”andfromwhichthey groups, and contemporary texts. But how and when to use
derivetheirstatusas“canonical.” thiscounter-rhetoric?TheleastIcansayisthatIamnotinthe
One more critical remark about the weakness in this ap- businessofconvincinganyoneaboutwhattheyreallythink.I
proach. Rousselle describes post-anarchism in a third way, maywellkeepmyanalysistomyself,orstateitinresignation
and this one is not so much a definition as an illustration. He of being misunderstood; or I may use it to attack. Whatever
writes that post-anarchism is the “new paradigm” (126) of
archists in their reconstruction of “classical anarchism.” Many egoists, for
anarchist thought: “The paradigm shift… that made its way
example,explicitlystatedwhatRousselleclaimscanonlybegraspedasala-
into the anarchist discourse, as ‘post-anarchism,’ allowed for
tentcontent(i.e.whatappearsonlywhenexplicitstatementsareanalyzed).
the realization and elucidation of the ethical component of ThebestonecansayaboutRousselle’sanalysisinthisregardisthatitdesta-
traditional anarchist philosophy” (129). He is so zealous in bilizes what many consider to be the center and the margins of the anar-
chisttradition,orcanon.Butitdoesleaveonewonderingwhyhediscusses
his promotion of this term that several times in his book he
KropotkinatsuchlengthinsteadofStirnerorNovatore,forexample,who
annexes authors who explicitly reject the term, such as Uri
arereferencedonlyinpassing.Istheresomethingatstakeforhiminempha-
Gordon and Gabriel Kuhn, to the cause. This all seems to me sizingethicalnihilismasalatentcontentasopposedtoamanifestone?
10 15