MIKHAIL BAKUNIN: THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF HIS ANARCHISM MIKHAIL BAKUNIN: THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF HIS ANARCHISM PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Algora Publishing New York © 2002 by Algora Publishing. All Rights Reserved. www.algora.com No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976) may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 1-892941-84-8 (softcover) ISBN: 1-892941-85-6 (hardcover) Library of Congress Card Number: 2002-001934 McLaughlin, Paul. Mikhail Bakunin : the philosophical basis of his anarchism / by Paul McLaughlin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-892941-84-8 (alk. paper) 1. Bakunin, Mikhail Aleksandrovich, 1814-1876. I. Title. HX914.7.B34 M35 2002 335'.83—dc21 2002001934 Printed in the United States Front Cover: Portrait of Bakunin (1814 - 1876) TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Bakunin as Philosopher? 1 Marxist Analysis 2 Liberal Analysis 6 Two Further Considerations 12 The Structure of the Essay 14 Notes to Introduction 16 PART ONE: BAKUNIN'S DIALECTIC AND THE CRITIQUE OF SPECULATION 21 1.1 The Reaction in Germany: Freedom and its Opponents 21 1.2 The Reaction in Context 23 1.3 Democracy and Revolution 29 1.4 Revolution and Metaphysics 30 1.5 Consistent and 'Mediating' Reaction 35 1.6 Objections 40 1.7 Historical Logics: Bakunin and Kuhn 42 1.8 Popular Revolution 46 1.9 The Negative Dialectic 48 1.10 Toward Revolutionary Action 53 1.11 Preface to Hegel's Gymnasial Lectures: Toward Naturalism 62 1.12 Negation: Bakunin and Bauer 68 1.13 Bakunin and Proudhon: Toward Anarchism 71 Notes to Part One 75 IX PART TWO: BAKUNIN'S NATURALISM AND THE CRITIQUE OF THEOLOGISM 103 2.1 The Totality of Nature 103 2.2 'Dialectics' and 'Materialism' 106 2.3 Natural Order and the 'Divine Legislator' 109 2.4 The Totality of Science 111 2.5 The Logic of Materialism 116 2.6 The Genesis of Religion 122 2.7 Reason, Freedom, and History 125 2.8 Fetishism, Polytheism, and Monotheism 130 2.9 The Development of Christianity 137 2.10 Christianity, Reason, and Freedom 141 2.11 Forms of Christian Faith 147 2.12 Bakunin and Kant 151 2.13 Bakunin and Hegel 155 2.14 Bakunin and Feuerbach: On Religion 161 2.15 Interlude: Bakunin and Marx 165 2.16 Bakunin and Feuerbach: On Philosophy 186 2.17 Interlude: Bakunin and Marx Revisited 194 2.18 Bakunin and Feuerbach: On Naturalism 197 2.19 Bakunin and Comte 206 Notes to Part Two 228 CONCLUSION 247 Notes to Conclusion 253 Select Bibliography 255 Index of Names 267 X Acknowledgements I wish to thank the following: Prof. David McLellan for his level-headed ad- vice, welcome encouragement, and lentils; Martin Rodden, Maciej Malolep- szy, Philippe Vandendaele, and others for hours of instructive conversation (apologies for endless talk of Bakunin and my work on him); Malgorzata Su- lislawska for the motivation to complete this project; Marta Majdecka for having the decency to tolerate me of late; and my family — my brother Eugene (for English transport and beer tokens), my sister Aoife (for pro- longed use of her computer), my sister Cara (for book acquisition and Hap- kin imports), and, most of all, my mother Maura McLaughlin (for everything that long-suffering Irish mothers are known to put up with, and more be- sides). XI XII INTRODUCTION Bakunin as Philosopher? The primary purpose of this essay, as the title indicates, is to exam- ine the philosophical foundations of Mikhail Bakunin’s social thought. Thus it is concerned not so much with the explication of the anarchist position of Bakunin as such as with the basic philosophy which under- pins it. This philosophy has, as far as I can determine, two central com- ponents: a negative dialectic or revolutionary logic; and a naturalist on- tology, a naturalistic account of the structure of being or reality. These two components are analyzed in the two main sections of this essay — but a preliminary question is begged, relating to the very significance of Bakunin as a philosophical thinker, the very significance of this apparent philosophical “non-entity” (Karl Marx’s judgment, seemingly confirmed by Bakunin’s absence from the philosophical canon). The question might be put in the following way: is Bakunin worthy of philosophical consid- eration? The mass of scholarship — or certainly Anglophone scholarship — on Bakunin holds that he is not. Anglophones — not surprisingly, given the ideological order in Anglophone countries — are especially hostile; Bakunin is generally regarded more sympathetically and treated more seriously in Latin countries, for instance. Due to the extent of this hostil- < 1 >