Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1809-1865.

Portrait of P.J.Proudhon

French socialist-anarchist.  To his own question, "What is property?", Proudhon answered famously, "Property is theft!". Proudhon called for a complete reorganization of modern society that abolished most of its trappings - including money and the state itself. He advocated communitarianism as the form of reorganization of society.   He argued that "goodwill" would emerge naturally once these "social constructs" were gone. 

Karl Marx directed his Poverty of Philosophy (1847) directly against Proudhon.  Léon Walras (1860) also had a go at a critique of Proudhon.

Major Works of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Resources on Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

 


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