This is a write-up of my notes for the book launch of Kropotkin’s Modern Science and Anarchy in Nottingham, 17th of November 2018. This, in turn, was a slightly revised version of a talk I did in Edinburgh early that year. As with all my subsequent write-ups, this is more what I aimed to say rather than what was said (this, for example, has far fewer jokes than uttered on the day). Still, it covers the main points said on the day.
(more…)Articles and Reviews
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The frustration of Richard Dawkins
A review of Richard Dawkins documentary on Charles Darwin which appeared in Channel 4 (UK) in August 2008. While aware of the existence of co-operation (mutual aid), he has a hard time integrating into his views on evolution which are very much rooted in Huxley’s notions.
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Review: The Age of Empathy
A review of an excellent book leading Primatologist Frans de Waal which confirms Kropotkin’s views on mutual aid and ethics. It appeared in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review No. 58 (Summer 2012)
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Review: Two Cheers for Anarchism
Review of the late anthropologist James C. Scott’s book on anarchism. An interesting work by someone who was not quite an anarchist but appreciated it, its useful and potential. Appeared in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review No. 64/5 (Summer 2015)
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Review: The Next Revolution
A review of a posthumously published collection of essays by once leading anarchist Murray Bookchin. It discusses his break with anarchism in 1999 and how he spent the final years of his life destroying his own legacy. The collection itself includes pre- and post-break articles, showing the similarities in his ideas as well as their limitations.
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