progress

Contr'un

Echoes and Fragments: Edward Carpenter’s progressive philosophy

April 8, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
With the most unappealing of the nominally “progressive” schools in the limelight, it’s sometimes hard to recall any of the others, but, of course, mutualism, as the “anarchism of approximations,” is another claimant to the label (and there has been some overlap of the traditions in figures like Golden Rule Jones.) I’ve been arguing that the original mutualist project of “synthesizing” or “harmonizing” individualism and socialism was replaced by a wide spectrum of less comprehensive approaches, all of which addressed some part of the larger project, and which therefore have something to say to anyone attempting to take up that […]
Uncategorized

Proudhon’s “Kronos”

December 21, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
In the biographical introduction to Tucker’s edition of What is Property? is a brief mention that around 1851 Proudhon’s “entertained the idea of writing a universal history entitled “Chronos.” This project was never fulfilled.” There was probably no shortage of “universal history” in France by 1850, although an entry by Proudhon would no doubt have been novel and interesting. The Saint-Simonians and their allies, including P. J. B. Buchez, Auguste Ott, Pierre Leroux, had written volume after volume on the subject. In 1849, William B. Greene published his Remarks On The History Of Science; Followed By An Apriori Autobiography, which […]
translations

Second things first

December 17, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
The “Second Letter” of Proudhon’s The Philosophy of Progress is now available in English translation in the Libertarian Labyrinth archive. For those interested in the elements of Proudhon’s philosophy involving collective persons, or those relating to the combination of conservative and progressive elements in “the Revolution,” there will be some additional material here. There’s also a great deal more. In the two letters that make up The Philosophy of Progress, Proudhon attempted to make his general “profession of faith,” with “faith” being just one of the terms he was in the midst of transforming in his works. The result was […]
Contr'un

Proudhon measures Progress

December 3, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_1third] [Commentary coming soon.] [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end] Some of the reshuffling of my scholarly priorities has revolved around my decision to go back and finish a translation of Proudhon’s Philosophy of Progress, before tackling any more of Justice or going back to look at The General Idea of the Revolution. It was a work which scored low when I asked people what they would like to see in translation first, but it is one which seems particularly important to me at the moment, in part because it contains, in condensed and clear form, Proudhon’s own account of what ties his various […]