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  • Essay / Similarities between anarchism and liberalism

    However, social anarchists illustrate that humans are above all sociable beings and that these anarchists are therefore against the individual who presides over society. Individualist anarchists take a stronger stance on the "sovereignty of the individual", with Stirner strongly emphasizing that humans are naturally selfish, that they should be completely unrepressed for pursuing their own will, and that they would only cooperate in their own interest1. Likewise, classical liberals also emphasize the value of the individual, with Mill opposing "the tyranny of the majority", which he believed to be the marginalization of those who disagreed with the opinion popular in society while majority opinions were approved by “public authorities”. »2. Stirner and Mill represent the views of many classical individualist and liberal anarchists in suggesting a disdain for the notion of community and society which they believed suppressed the selfish nature of the individual, instead desiring each individual to be recognized separately rather than 'be merged into a group. Anarchism and liberalism suggest that individuals are rational and capable of forming personal opinions, but collective activity, especially societal and governmental, ensures that individual voices are ignored as they focus on collective interests rather than on individual interests.