Does Anarchism Conflict with Human Nature?
Editor’s Pick. Written by Nathan Goodman.
“I know enough about human nature to know that it’s [anarchism] a naively flawed concept.”
“Anarchy’s a lovely idea, but it conflicts with human nature.”
Anarchists are used to hearing objections like these incessantly. It seems everyone is certain that stateless society built around left-libertarian principles is incompatible with human nature. But is this true?
It seems to me that if human nature exists, we would discern it through research in psychology, anthropology, history, and economics. So, what does research in those fields tell us about states and stateless societies?