Josiah Warren

Josiah Warren, born in 1798, was a multifaceted American social reformer, musician, inventor, and philosopher. He is often recognized as the first American philosophical anarchist, having actively participated in Robert Owen's experimental community at New Harmony, Indiana, during the years of eighteen twenty-five to eighteen twenty-six. However, Warren later distanced himself from Owenism, leading to the inception of the Time Store Cooperative Movement, historically known as the Equity Movement.

Warren's innovative spirit was evident in his establishment of the Cincinnati Time Store, which served as a practical application of his ideas. He also founded the Utopian Community of Modern Times, where he further explored his philosophical concepts. In his seminal work, True Civilization, published in eighteen sixty-three, Warren articulated his belief in the sovereignty of every individual. His subsequent publication, Practical Applications of the Elementary Principles of True Civilization, released in eighteen seventy-three, proposed a decentralized hexagonal ideal city, inspired by J. Madison Allen's Ancora design, which stood in stark contrast to communism.

A pioneer in printing technology, Warren invented America's first continuous-feed rotary press, capable of producing sixty copies per minute, a significant advancement compared to the five copies produced by standard presses of his time. This groundbreaking invention was showcased in New York City in eighteen thirty-two, attracting notable figures such as Robert Hoe, founder of R. Hoe & Company, which later adopted similar principles in their own printing presses, revolutionizing the industry by the late nineteenth century.

In addition to his contributions to printing, Warren played a crucial role in the development of coal-oil stoves and was among the first to establish a trade school in the United States. His philosophical insights garnered appreciation across the political spectrum, influencing prominent thinkers like Herbert Spencer, Benjamin Tucker, Émile Armand, and John Stuart Mill. By the twentieth century, his ideas were referenced by Robert Nozick in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, where Nozick delved into the concept of a meta-utopia, a collection of coexisting utopias.