@thoughtcrimeboss

Anarchia is my new favorite word.... "Anarchia, defined as an excess of the passion for liberty, was a term coined by Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a founding figure in American psychiatry. In the aftermath of the American Revolution, Rush observed that the revolutionary fervor had unleashed widespread social upheaval—challenging established hierarchies of class, gender, and authority. He diagnosed this phenomenon as a mental disorder, naming it Anarchia, which he believed stemmed from an unchecked enthusiasm for liberty that threatened social order. This concept reflects how elite revolutionaries of the time feared the democratic and egalitarian excesses of the revolution, viewing them not as progress but as a dangerous descent into chaos. Rush’s use of Anarchia illustrates a historical tension between liberty and order. While the term was originally a medical diagnosis for revolutionary unrest, it has since been reclaimed and reinterpreted by anarchists and critical theorists. For instance, Lucy Parsons, a radical anarchist, saw liberty as a revolutionary force against exploitation and oppression, advocating for freedom to discover truth and live naturally. Similarly, Dennis Fox notes that Rush’s diagnosis of anarchia as a form of insanity was part of a broader pattern of using psychology to justify social control—e.g., labeling resistance to authority as pathological. Today, the idea of an excess of the passion for liberty continues to provoke debate. Some, like Tom Cutterham, argue that the American Founders feared anarchy not just as political collapse but as a breakdown of social relations. Others, such as Crispin Sartwell and Saul Newman, critique both state power and certain anarchist visions, suggesting that true freedom must be non-dominating and self-affirming, not merely the absence of restraint. The term Anarchia thus remains a powerful symbol of the enduring struggle between liberty, authority, and social cohesion. "

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction