THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANARCHIST CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN THE TEACHING OF THE GREEK CYNICS AND CHINESE PHILOSOPHICAL DAOISTS
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANARCHIST CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN THE TEACHING OF THE GREEK CYNICS AND CHINESE PHILOSOPHICAL DAOISTS

Summary/Abstract: This paper links the beginnings of anarchism to the works of some ancient Greek Cynic philosophers. Its reflections are also visible in the Chinese Daoist civilizational paradigm, so comparatively relevant ideas developed by the Greek Cynics are analysed in relation to the Chinese Daoists ideas. Basing on the surviving works by the representatives of the above-mentioned schools or only fragments of these works, the author of the paper draws attention to the aspects of social behaviour and social activities of the thinkers of the civilizational paradigms in question. These aspects are discussed in the light of the idea of anarchism, which helps to reveal distinctive contents of values. These contents are fundamentally different from the models of anarchism of the New Ages that are oriented towards the transformation of social structure or its individual systems. The radical idea of social revolution was not important to the Greek Cynics and the Chinese Daoists, although, in the course of time, there have been attempts to link these ideas with revolutionary attitudes. However, due to the ideological divide and the divide in values, the author of the paper sees no basis for a more detailed comparative analysis of the ideas of anarchism of the New Ages and ancient anarchism.

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