Philosophical Anarchism and Political Obligation
Philosophical Anarchism and Political Obligation

Author: Magda Egoumenides

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-08-28

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1441124454

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Political obligation refers to the moral obligation of citizens to obey the law of their state and to the existence, nature, and justification of a special relationship between a government and its constituents. This volume in the Contemporary Anarchist Studies series challenges this relationship, seeking to define and defend the position of critical philosophical anarchism against alternative approaches to the issue of justification of political institutions. The book sets out to demonstrate the value of taking an anarchist approach to the problem of political authority, looking at theories of natural duty, state justification, natural duty of justice, fairness, political institutions, and more. It argues that the anarchist perspective is in fact indispensable to theorists of political obligation and can improve our views of political authority and social relations. This accessible book builds on the works of philosophical anarchists such as John Simmons and Leslie Green, and discusses key theorists, including Rousseau, Rawls, and Horton. This key resource will make an important contribution to anarchist political theory and to anarchist studies more generally.

Contemporary Anarchist Studies
Contemporary Anarchist Studies

Author: Randall Amster

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-02-10

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1134026439

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This book highlights the recent rise in interest in anarchist theory and practice attempting to bridge the gap between anarchist activism on the streets and anarchist studies in the academia. Bringing together some of the most prominent voices in contemporary anarchism in the academy, it includes pieces written on anarchist theory, pedagogy, methodologies, praxis, and the future.

In Defense of Anarchism
In Defense of Anarchism

Author: Robert Paul Wolff

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1998-09-28

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9780520215733

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With a new preface, Robert Paul Wolff's classic analysis of the foundations of the authority of the state and the problems of political authority and moral autonomy in a democracy.

Philosophical Anarchism and Political Disobedience
Philosophical Anarchism and Political Disobedience

Author: Chaim Gans

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1992-06-18

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0521414504

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This book examines the central questions concerning the duty to obey the law: the meaning of this duty; whether and where it should be acknowledged; and whether and when it should be disregarded. Many contemporary philosophers deny the very existence of this duty, but take a cautious stance towards political disobedience. This 'toothless anarchism', Professor Gans argues, should be discarded in favour of a converse position confirming the existence of a duty to obey the law which can be outweighed by values and principles of political morality. Informed by the Israeli experience of political disobedience motivated by radically differing moral outlooks, the author sets out the principles which should guide our attitude to law and political authority even amidst clashing ideologies and irreconcilable moralities. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of law, philosophy and politics, and anyone concerned with the individual's responsibilities toward his or her political community.

Political Obligation
Political Obligation

Author: John Horton

Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 9780333367858

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This text reviews and criticizes the current justifications of political obligation - the relationship between the individual and the political community - in terms of contract, consent, utility, fair play, common good and suchlike, in addition to assessing the anarchist denial of political obligation. The book also sets out an alternative approach to the problem which challenges many of the standard ideas about political obligation.

Justification and Legitimacy
Justification and Legitimacy

Author: A. John Simmons

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9780521793650

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This book contains essays by A. John Simmons, perhaps the most innovative and creative of today's political philosophers.

The Problem of Political Authority
The Problem of Political Authority

Author: Michael Huemer

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-10-29

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 1137281669

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The state is often ascribed a special sort of authority, one that obliges citizens to obey its commands and entitles the state to enforce those commands through threats of violence. This book argues that this notion is a moral illusion: no one has ever possessed that sort of authority.

Against the State
Against the State

Author: Crispin Sartwell

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2014-02-07

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 0791478351

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Irreverent and incisive critique of liberal theories of the state.

Is There a Duty to Obey the Law?
Is There a Duty to Obey the Law?

Author: Christopher Wellman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-07-25

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1316582965

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The central question in political philosophy is whether political states have the right to coerce their constituents and whether citizens have a moral duty to obey the commands of their state. In this 2005 book, Christopher Heath Wellman and A. John Simmons defend opposing answers to this question. Wellman bases his argument on samaritan obligations to perform easy rescues, arguing that each of us has a moral duty to obey the law as his or her fair share of the communal samaritan chore of rescuing our compatriots from the perils of the state of nature. Simmons counters that this, and all other attempts to explain our duty to obey the law, fail. He defends a position of philosophical anarchism, the view that no existing state is legitimate and that there is no strong moral presumption in favor of obedience to, or compliance with, any existing state.

The Duty to Obey the Law
The Duty to Obey the Law

Author: William Atkins Edmundson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9780847692552

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The question, 'Why should I obey the law?' introduces a contemporary puzzle that is as old as philosophy itself. The puzzle is especially troublesome if we think of cases in which breaking the law is not otherwise wrongful, and in which the chances of getting caught are negligible. Philosophers from Socrates to H.L.A. Hart have struggled to give reasoned support to the idea that we do have a general moral duty to obey the law but, more recently, the greater number of learned voices has expressed doubt that there is any such duty, at least as traditionally conceived. The thought that there is no such duty poses a challenge to our ordinary understanding of political authority and its legitimacy. In what sense can political officials have a right to rule us if there is no duty to obey the laws they lay down? Some thinkers, concluding that a general duty to obey the law cannot be defended, have gone so far as to embrace philosophical anarchism, the view that the state is necessarily illegitimate. Others argue that the duty to obey the law can be grounded on the idea of consent, or on fairness, or on other ideas, such as community.