voluntaryist thought
A basic look into the principles of voluntaryism, co-individualism, and the realisation of self-ownership.
introduction
What are the foundational principles?
What is the meaning of life? What political philosophy is correct? Which policies should be implemented? What rights do I have? What is the purpose of humankind's existence?These questions may seem familiar: because we as sentient beings possessing a great consciousness and capacity for thought, are always tending towards perfection. We may not know what perfection looks like, but on both the micro and the macro scale, we as people yearn for a state of good, of happiness, and of virtue and prosperity. Insofar as we yearn for traits that we fundamentally believe to be "good", we are constantly seeking knowledge, innovating, and discovering new things in our endless pursuit of a perfect excellence that can give us the answers to life.Of course, this can look different from individual to individual. Although there are demographic trends and correlations to be analysed, no human individual is a perfect replica of any other. As demographics are not entirely monolithic, it must be accounted for that although we as humans are naturally ideological and philosophical creatures, we also differ in our ideological beliefs and our philosophical approaches. So how can we reconcile ourselves with the pursuit of human perfection, and the perfection of all sentient beings, if we cannot even agree on what perfection is?Precisely. In that we acknowledge that humans are sentient, and that humans have the capacity for ideological and philosophical thought, we will arrive at the conclusion that humans are constantly philosophising, contemplating, and searching for a greater excellence, no matter what form that excellence may take. Definitionally speaking, that evaluation of what is perfect cannot be singularly determined. That is why the search for excellence in life and beyond starts with the fundamental recognition of humanity as the searcher, and our capacity to search.In recognising that we as sentient beings yearn for excellence, we must acknowledge that we all are owed a certain ownership of self that allows us to be masters over our own autonomy. Only through this can we truly realise any non-singularity of excellence.The common misconception this might bring is that it is a non-answer, or that it is arrogant. However, it is not of a cruel arrogance; rather, it is of a benevolent ego that understands that the multiversal nature of the proud, ideological actors that we are can and must coexist. As for the answer, that is only to be discovered when we acknowledge that our excellence is definitionally sought for by us, as the receptors and carriers of that excellence that is the combination of rationality and sentiment.This is the age of the human god. You are no exception.
voluntaryism
Political principles in theory.
1. We own ourselves as the masters of our own consciousness and material form.Insofar as we are beings of sentience, we stake a claim to our cognitive and our physical aspects. This fundamental ownership of our concept of "self" is deeply important in the beginning of any actualisation of life's meaning for any of us, and also largely improves the quality of life as our inherent rights are recognised.2. We derive equal negative rights as the logical conclusion of self-ownership.Not all human individuals are fully equal in capacity, be it cognitive or physical. However, in that all sentient humans possess a fundamentally equal level of humanity, it is vital to recognise that no fully conscious entity is more or less an individual than any other, and hence should be owed their rights and self-mastery. In this regard, the logical conclusion of equal humanity is equal negative rights that extend as far as it does not aggress against another's equal negative rights. Hence, our rights involve an obligation to inaggression.3. That which violates our negative rights also by extension violates our mastery of self, and should meet reasonable resistance.The aggression of our inherent negative rights — rights that extend as absolutely as they can insofar as they do not impinge on the rights of another — is an aggression against our self and any logical extension of our self. Be it by the State apparatus or any other monopoly on force, or simply another individual, all aggression against our equal and absolute negative rights should be condemned as causing an inequality of rights, an inequality of individual recognition, and a path to illiberalism.4. That which violates our negative rights as the only means foreseeable to prevent a certain greater violation of our fundamental self-ownership befalls "special circumstances" and should meet reasonable mitigation rather than resistance.Insofar as we meet a situation of utmost rarity in which our rights, which are intrinsic, equal, and absolute, cannot fulfil the actualisation of our self-mastery, our self-mastery must always be prioritised. In the case of a "special circumstance", the emphasis must always be on the preservation of human individuals' self-ownership, with an urgency to return to absolute righthood with great immediacy.
liberalism
Political praxis in action.
From a realistic standpoint, a purely voluntaryist society on the global scale is difficult to both implement and maintain in the long run because the nature of human ideological nuance results in regime change, both in terms of institutions and ideologies.So how do we work towards praxis while accounting for the modern political context?Humankind on the mass scale is naturally drawn towards the liberation of their capacity to pursue their interests. When humans are suppressed or aggressed against, this is an infringement against their self-mastery. The vast majority of individuals seek to realise their self and achieve utility, be it for themselves or their loved ones. The most logical conclusion to this is that over time, people will gravitate towards liberalisation even if they occasionally return to reactionary politics.How does this work?The nature of liberalism recognises the fundamental importance of rights in concept. Although liberalism is a very broad term that encompasses different perspectives on what exactly these rights entail, there is always a core emphasis on the idea of all people being owed rights. Voluntaryist praxis can be tended towards while liberalism can be easily maintained through the advocacy of very universal concepts such as human rights and the equal recognition of individual worth.How does this relate back to voluntaryism?Liberalism is not voluntaryism. However, maintaining a strongly liberalist culture is important for humankind as a fortress for the basic conceptualisation of rights. Through the propagation of a sociopolitically liberalist culture, humans can continue to be ideological actors who consider political abstractions such as rights, mastery, philosophy, and meaning rather than merely resorting to immediate need. The resorting to immediate need often involves a societal disregard for any concept of inherent rights and instead uses utilitarianism to fulfil the basest of majority survival, without accounting for any excellence that the meaning of survival is predicated on while trampling on the fundamental self-mastery of individuals.The goal is to live and to thrive with excellence, rather than the mere oppressive survival of the greatest number.