Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. As a historically left-wing movement, this reading of anarchism is placed on the farthest left of the political spectrum, usually described as the libertarian wing of the socialist movement.
Wilhelm Weitling is an example of a writer who added to anarchist theory without using the exact term.
Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BC), whose Republic inspired Peter Kropotkin
Nestor Makhno seen with members of the anarchist Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
Rojava's support efforts for workers to form cooperatives is exemplified in this sewing cooperative.
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, justice, liberty, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of laws by authority: what they are, if they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect, what form it should take, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever.
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), from a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics secured the two Greek philosophers as two of the most influential political philosophers.
Portrait of Confucius, c. 1770
Augustine of Hippo
Thomas Aquinas