Anarchism and modernity in nineteenth-century Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the relationship between anarchism and modernity, paying specific attention to the tensions and paradoxes that arose between the two. The central thesis of this piece is that within nineteenth-century Spanish anarchism, a modernity-anti-modernity tension operated, enforced by the modern imaginary while also trying to transcend and end it. The original responses of anarchism to the pre-established schemes are observed from the study of anarchist conceptions of the human being, society, temporality, and nature. It is argued that paradox is a central element of the modern historical experience, since new currents were born out of its principles that strained and questioned the very philosophical bases of enlightened modernity. Thus, anarchism is interpreted as one of the “monsters” of modernity.