DAVID T. WIECK •· That the «program» of action is the continuous realization of freedom in the lives of each and all; * That individuals are the loci of social change as well as the foundation of free society; * That in the continuous realization of freedom values are won continuously. About these propositions I wish to claim that they indicate a non-simplistic view of society and human being that provides a mode of social analysis, an image of the ethical potentiality of man, and a proposal of method for realizing that potentiality. If one is to consider anarchism as a «philosophy,» one will of course ask about the nature of metaphysical and epistemological commitments and tpeir foundation. This question threatens to reintroduce the fragmentation into «schools» that I have sought to ovei;come, for on these questions anarchist differ sharply and I have chosen to view. anarchiszp. in a way that avoids such commitments. I should like now, however, ·to give a positive· sense to this avoidance, and I offer the foliowing thoughts, intended to be no. more than Suggestive; their elaboration will· have to await another oc-casion. · · . We are a puzzle to ourselves, I believe, because we do not fully experience our own humanity, ·arid'this in turn is bec·ause we cannot fully experience the humanity of others so long as we exist in the many interlocking relations of masterh6od and servitude. We yield to those structures of power in otder to live in a human world that pre-exists each of us and demands that we discipline ourselves to cultures organized around in~ signia, languages, persons, institutions, mythologies, and philosophies of power. We move dialectically to a plane of consciousness of our common humanity, instantiated uniquely· in each person; as we move dialectically to a plane of social existence in which we wield no power over others and do not allow ourselves to. be determined in our being by the power that they wield. Only then do we realize the meaning of sub-; jectivity in another or, authentically, in ourselves ... By that move, we bring love to reality,. for such recognition of subjectivity is what I understand by love. Put otherwise: Certain truths must be brought to be, must be made living, before their meaning can be apprehended more than negatively. (Thus anarchism, in this respect like Marxism, transposes the philosophical questions into questions of actualization and realization.) What I see in anarchism is the indication that human being will become adequately self-c·onscious, 54
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