Michael Bakunin: God and the State - Assignment Example

1 Michael Bakunin: God and the Q From the above chronology, about how many times would you say he "moved"? What else do you know about his life? (Introduction) Would you like to be a revolutionary? Explain. Ans.: Michael Bakunin moved 54 times, more or less, from one place to another spanning Asia, Europe and North America. Michael Bakunin was the eldest in a brood of ten children – five boys and five girls – and he came from a middle class family. His father was a diplomat before he retired and managed his estate and Michael’s mother came from a prominent family. If being a revolutionary means moving ceaselessly from one place to another, in hiding and constantly in danger of being arrested, I would rather not be a revolutionary. It is good to travel and see the world to enjoy and not to seek refuge from pursuing authorities all the time. Q 2: Connect the two faculties that make us different from the other animals to the three fundamental principles that constitute the essential conditions of all human development? Ans.: According to Bakunin there are two precious faculties in man: the power to think and, the desire to rebel. He also cited three fundamental principles as constituting the important conditions of human development: human animality; thought, and; rebellion. The aforementioned conditions are necessary for progress because they are the avenues by which the faculties of man can be expressed. As a product of human nature, man was an animal but because he had the power to think, he began to think in abstractions (ex. idea of God) which enslaved him. However because he also has a desire to rebel, he rebelled from all that enslaved him (including religion) and at the end, he is liberated and with freedom comes progress. 2 Q 3: What is an illusion? Give several reasons why Bakunin thinks religion is an illusion? Wha, is his answer to those who say that the religious sentiment in human is very old or that almost all of the ancient cultures have religion in them? How are religion and reason related? Ans: An illusion is something that is not real but a mere figment of the imagination. Bakunin thought that religion is an illusion because it defies not only complete explanation but is contrary to science and logic and the cause of the development of the idea of a divine and Supreme Being is unknown. The belief in religion cannot be rationalized by its antiquity because man progressively became knowledgeable as time passes as he emerges from his animality, therefore, old beliefs should be doubted. Neither should universality be the basis of the authority of religion because it only denotes similarity of human nature in all history. Not all that were anchored in the past or believed by many are necessarily true. Bakunin reasoned that in the old days people believed that the world was flat and it was discovered not to be true; and slavery was an accepted form of exploitation in the past and it was unjust. To Bakunin, religion is “the abdication of human reason.” Q 4: Pages 28-40 are about liberty and authority. Of what does the liberty of man consist? How does this definition involve the two faculties of question #2? Ans. Liberty of man, according to Bakunin, is recognizing the natural laws and obeying and applying these laws for the purpose of collective and individual freedom. The power to think is important because it will be instrumental in uncovering all such natural laws and passing them on to the consciousness of everybody. The desire to rebel by man will likewise be important in the application of the all natural laws that will be uncovered to attain complete freedom from all political direction, organization and legislation. 3 Q 5: Explain and elaborate upon the meaning: "We accept all natural authority and all influences of fact, but none of right."What are some of the different kinds of authority involved? Ans. This means that the anarchists (revolutionary socialists like Bakunin) can accept only the absolute authority of science as facts but not when it is imposed on them by mere representatives of special sciences. They do not accord infallibility to these representatives or absolute authority but consult them only when and if they want to. Some of the different authorities are: the absolute authority of science; the authority of the representative of special sciences; the authority of the specialist (the bootmaker, the architect, etc); Q 6: Why does Bakunin not believe in universal suffrage and in democracy? (32-35) He actually uses the word "anarchist" on page 35. Ans. Bakunin believed that universal suffrage and democracy will only eventually redound to the benefit of only a privileged few – a dominant minority – to the disadvantage of the majority. Q 7: From whom might Bakunin have borrowed ideas (which ones) to give his definition of the state on page 39 as "..........."(fill in this blank). Ans. Bakunin borrowed from the preamble of the imperial decrees of Napoleon III where the State will call itself Republic – “a tutelage officially and regularly established by a minority of competent men, men of virtuous genius or talent, who will watch and guide the conduct “ of the people. Q 8: What is idealism? materialism? Of which of these two schools of thought is Bakunin an adherent and why? "Man, like all the rest of nature, is an entirely material being." Bakunin uses 4 the terms idealism and materialism to refer to whole civilizations. We can call that his macro use of these terms. And he uses them to explain the nature of an individual human bein. We can call this his micro use of these terms. Do either of these two usages strike you as more felicitous than the other? Discuss. Ans. Idealism is the philosophy seen as and based on “quasi-philosophical reasoning, and to a large extent on sentiment ideally, abstractly poetical.” To this idea of authority, the idealist attaches divinization. Materialism, on the other hand, rejects authority except natural laws authority, because the materialist believes that liberty is the key to the triumph of humanity. Bakunin was a materialist because he rejected everything in the realm of abstractions especially those which tyrannize man and considered himself an emancipator of such tyranny. The terms as used in re individuals are more felicitous because they are more suited as descriptions and justifications of the idealists’ minds whereas the ones used in re civilizations are quite inexact. Q 9: Why does Bakunin like the Greek and Italian civilizations better than the Roman and German ones? From 41-50. Ans. Bakunin liked the Greek and Italian civilization better than the Roman and German because he saw the former as materialistic societies and the latter idealistic. He saw the former as a justification of his views on materialism vis-à-vis idealism. The ancient Greek civilization and the modern Italian civilizations, although materialistic, turned out to be the more humanly ideal than the latter which were idealistic civilizations giving up materialism in favor of the liberty of the citizens and judicial laws and which, according to him turned out to be more brutal societies than the former. 5 10: Why does Bakunin object so strongly to (scientific) abstractions? How does his rejection of abstractions lead to a rejection of the authority of scientists and to a rejection of government? Ans. Bakunin objected to scientific abstractions and felt that there should be a revolution to put it in its place where it can never leave again because he believed that many wars were fought and many sacrifices had been made in the name of abstractions. And because scientists, to Bakunin, clung to the belief of the higher authority of God to explain all other miracles, Bakunin rejected their authority as well. To him, the mission of science is to illuminate and guide not to govern. Governments, which are the application of the authority of scientists must be rejected as well Q 11: How does Bakunins statement about man being a totally material being lead him to once again criticize religious beliefs? (from pages 65- the end) Ans. Bakunin subscribed to the belief that everything about a person is the property of the animal body and of the material organism in the brain. Thoughts are product of such material organism. And because he created even thoughts, it was him who created god and religion albeit unconsciously at first. He believed that man created religion unconsciously as a means to deal with the external world. This was why Bakunin declared that religion and God do not exist as independent entities from man since these are his mere creations. Q 12: What according to Bakunin is the source of religious ideas? (66-73) Ans. The origin of religious ideas, according to Bakunin, is the consciousness of dependence of the primitive people upon the supreme powerful which is nature. Because of this dependence, man feared for his own extinction and this fear compelled him to rely upon a power 6 whom he unconsciously created - his gods not understanding that they were his own creation. These gods, through time, were refined by the people who worshipped them until the emergence of monotheism, where a single god was created to substitute all other gods. This god, according to Bakunin, has evolved into a purer, more powerful, a better god than its predecessors. Q 13: Explain and elaborate upon this sentence: "There is not, there cannot be, a State without religion?"(p.84) How many claims are there here, and are they all true, you think? Discuss. Ans. It is the contention of Bakunin that the fear of God and religion is a tool that the State uses to compel submission of its citizens and therefore the state cannot perpetuate itself without religion. The fear of God and the constraints of religion limit a person’s behavior and conduct which benefits society because lesser crimes are committed and people tend to live in harmony with each other in compliance with the Christian commandments. The book made this contention several times not exactly worded but as implications from beginning to end. This is not an entirely true allegation because religion, as practiced by the pagans, existed even before states came into being. Q 14: Why do you think Bakunin has a hard time imagining (let alone believing) that things no one has seen with their eyes (e.g. the human mind or God) exist? Ans. Bakunin was a materialist who believed in the animality of man - that man is a product of nature. To him the pertinent and deterministic chain of development is animality to thought to rebellion. God does not figure at any stage. Besides, all forms of authority that suppresses freedom is anathema to him and the idea of a god is a form of authority. Thus, he consciously shunned any and all forms of abstractions that suppresses liberty and shut his mind to the idea that anything existed beyond the physical. 7 Q 15: What does credo quod absurdum mean? (pages 15 and 76/77) Ans. Translated literally, this means ‘I believe it because it is absurd.’ It implies the acceptance of something which logic and reason cannot substantiate and therefore a sacrifice of the intellect is needed. Q 16: Explain the title of this book. Ans. Bakunin, as an anarchist, assailed both the concept of God and the State. Both, according to Bakunin, represented authority and are therefore obstacles to liberty. The former, because it bounds man from acting beyond God’s will and the latter because of the laws and rules it imposes on the citizens. He bunched God and State together because he believed that religion is a tool of the state to enforce fear among the people, and one cannot survive without the other. Bakunin advocated the annihilation of both State and the concept of God. Q 17: Of all the thinkers and ideologies, who or which do you think best meets Bakunins anarchist challenge? What is your own view of this challenge? Ans. Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, can best meet the anarchist challenge of Bakunin. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes essayed the need for a political structure that would protect the people. The people then enter into a social contract with the state. It obliges the people to cede some of their natural rights to the state in exchange for protection. Hobbes essayed a society without a government – one where there is a general license to do anything, leading to a conflict and lives characteristically short and depraved. The anarchist challenge is not only impractical but also implausible. It will lead to conflict and will end up the same way that Bakunin detested in authority – the tyranny of a privileged few. At least, in an organized state, the people has, to an extent, power they can brandish in the faces of this privileged few. Read More