The medievalist response to anarchism.

by Chris B

An anarchistic ontology is an intellectual system which takes the individual as anterior to society and which rejects the formative and definitive role of authority. Anarchistic ontologies necessarily have to assume a great deal of conditions to which there have been no proofs supplied, such as the potential for spontaneous order that allows for a society without governance, and all other manner of fictions. At their most honest, we see a wide variety of anarchisms, and at their most convoluted and confused, we find the whole cacophony of various iterations of liberalism. Before we go into detail as to how an absolutist ontology would look, and what value it can provide as a model for observation of society; it may still be worthwhile to quickly survey a number of arguments which Filmer deals with in Patriarcha, and other works of his, to show the necessary incoherence to which an advocate of anarchistic ontology must descend.

The first such advocate of an anarchist ontology that Filmer deals with is St. Robert Bellarmine. Filmer notes in Patriarcha that in accordance with Bellarmine’s claims regarding property the following three points follow: Firstly, if God granted ownership in common, then all order except anarchy is in effect contra God and in violation of natural law; Secondly, God, in providing common ownership failed to supply a nature to man which would make it work, which leads to the claimed need to give power to specific men to govern, which the people, nevertheless, can rescind. This raises the question of if the second point is correct then who gets to decide on rescinding government? Finally, why, given point one, is government even needed at step two?[i] The conclusion that can logically be drawn is that Bellarmine is not coherent.

Hugo Grotius is dealt with in a similar fashion. Filmer notes that Grotius’ position led logically to the following conclusions:

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