The Peer Review #2: Ten Theses on Science and Radicalism

From libcom.org

Issue #2 of The Peer Review, a zine dedicated to the intersection of anarchism, science, and philosophy. This issue addresses the anti-science sentiment that has arisen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Peer Review #1: The Anarchists Guide to Critical Thinking

From libcom.org

The Peer Review is a self-published a zine dedicated to the intersection of anarchism, science, and philosophy. The original pamphlet with more illustrations can be found on the Internet Archive.

This first issue is a guide to critical thinking written from an anarchist's perspective.

Frans de Waal (1948-2024)

From Anarchist Writers

The Dutch-American primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal died of stomach cancer on 14 March 2024. His research was of interest to anarchists for it centred on primate social behaviour, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequity aversion and empathy. In other words, subjects which Peter Kropotkin pioneered in Mutual Aid and Ethics. Unusually, de Waal was well aware of Kropotkin’s work and mentioned it in his writings, noting repeatedly how Kropotkin “rightly noted that many animals survive not through struggle, but through mutual aid."

The Totality is Incomplete, on Immediatism podcast

Science's inheritance from Christianity is the subject of this enjoyable series of three articles, which first appeared in The Anvil Review. "Golem in the Catacombs" describes us as cyborgs, walking around looking at devices. "For the Love of God" addresses three versions of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables whilst discussing apparatuses of control from Christianity through the present day of science as state religion. "Science" dives deeper, identifying the commonalities between Christianity and science, as partial ways of knowing. The collection of Alex Gorrion's columns for The Anvil Review is entitled The Totality is Incomplete and is from Ardent Press, and available through LittleBlackCart.com. The nineteen essays included share a delightful use of language and frequent surprising connections to popular culture.

The Cost of Power and Hierarchy

from The Commoner

On April 5th, 1887, Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton proclaimed, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Obviously, we could poke fun at the evident contradiction of the prestigious position Lord Acton held and the intent and meaning of the quote, and if we were to get into Lord Acton’s politics, it would be incredibly difficult to take his word seriously when speaking on the subject of power. However, this isn’t about Lord Acton, this is about the truism that power corrupts. Yet in contemporary discourse, not everyone sees it as a truism. It is still a highly contested claim in many circles, and I’d like to attempt to settle the issue if I can. I’d like to examine some of the early conceptualisations of consciousness and psychology in the field of philosophy and relate that to current discoveries in modern science. I’d then like to loop back around to show how this is all relevant when considering the claims that have been consistently made by anarchists for as long as the political philosophy has existed.

Subscribe to science