"I bow before the authority of special men because it is imposed upon me by my own reason"
About this Quote
Bakunin, the patron saint of anti-authoritarians, pulls off a neat rhetorical jiu-jitsu here: he bows to "authority" while smuggling in a clause that dissolves it. The deference is real, but only as far as reason consents. "Special men" are not kings, priests, or bureaucrats; they are the rare people with demonstrable competence. He’s carving out a space for expertise without granting anyone the right to rule.
The key phrase is "imposed upon me by my own reason". That’s not submission; it’s self-government. Bakunin reframes obedience as an internal act of judgment, a temporary and revisable decision. If authority can only be legitimate when it’s chosen, then institutional authority collapses into persuasion. The expert doesn’t command; they convince. The moment they stop being convincing, the bow ends.
Context matters: this is 19th-century Europe, thick with aristocratic privilege, clerical power, and the emerging technocratic state. Revolutions promised liberation and often delivered new hierarchies. Bakunin is trying to inoculate radical politics against its recurring disease: replacing one set of masters with another, dressed up as "the people" or "science". He’s also quietly warning that expertise becomes tyranny when it ossifies into office.
The subtext is a challenge to every would-be savior: if you want my allegiance, don’t demand it. Earn it, continually, in the only court Bakunin recognizes - the individual’s reasoning mind.
The key phrase is "imposed upon me by my own reason". That’s not submission; it’s self-government. Bakunin reframes obedience as an internal act of judgment, a temporary and revisable decision. If authority can only be legitimate when it’s chosen, then institutional authority collapses into persuasion. The expert doesn’t command; they convince. The moment they stop being convincing, the bow ends.
Context matters: this is 19th-century Europe, thick with aristocratic privilege, clerical power, and the emerging technocratic state. Revolutions promised liberation and often delivered new hierarchies. Bakunin is trying to inoculate radical politics against its recurring disease: replacing one set of masters with another, dressed up as "the people" or "science". He’s also quietly warning that expertise becomes tyranny when it ossifies into office.
The subtext is a challenge to every would-be savior: if you want my allegiance, don’t demand it. Earn it, continually, in the only court Bakunin recognizes - the individual’s reasoning mind.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
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