ABSTRACT
There are those who say that man and society are corrupted and degraded by law, that love, benevolence, should suffice as a guide for conduct and for the building of a good social order. This extreme position is sometimes an expression of Christian antinomianism—and also an expression of philosophical anarchism. As an instance of the latter, one may cite Proudhon, who wrote: “I will have no laws. I will acknowledge none. I protest against every law which an authority calling itself necessary imposes upon my free will.” This philosopher of anarchism could have cited in support of his position passages in the New Testament by Paul, John, and Timothy, along with writings by Kropotkin, Tolstoy, Bakunin, and William Godwin.
