DOCSLIB.ORG

Critical Philosophical Anarchism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Critical Philosophical Anarchism CRITICAL PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHISM A Defence of An Anarchist Approach to the Problem of Political Authority. Submission for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy by Magda Egoumenides University College London 2004 1 UMI Number: U602855 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U602855 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 For my beloved parents For Christo 2 ABSTRACT In this thesis I define and defend the philosophy of critical philosophical anarchism and show it to be superior to alternative (anarchist and non­ anarchist) approaches to the problem of justification of political institutions. In general I argue that the anarchist position within the contemporary debate on political obligation has been dismissed too easily and that the value of an anarchist approach to an understanding of (and solution to) the problem of political authority is underestimated in current thought. In particular, my thesis sets out and defends the critical philosophical anarchist approach to the problem of political obligation and contrasts this approach with traditional treatments of the problem. I advance a clearer statement of the critical philosophical anarchist position than those currently available and demonstrate the continued value of taking an anarchist approach to the problem of political authority. This thesis has seven chapters. In the introductory chapter I set out the basic problem of political obligation and the anarchist position I want to defend. The first chapter presents the main aspects of the central problem and the main argument for its solution to be developed in the following chapters. Chapter two provides an analysis and restatement of anarchist arguments against consent and contract theories of political obligation. Chapter three offers considerations against a natural duty theory of political obligation. Chapter four addresses a reciprocity-based theory of political obligation, to wit: the principle of fairness as formulated by Hart and Rawls. The fifth chapter provides a general illustration of the distinctive contribution of critical philosophical anarchism to the problem of political authority. It develops the argument set out in chapter one and references to that argument in the preceding critical chapters on alternative approaches to the problem of political obligation. In the concluding chapter I tie together my argument for critical philosophical anarchism, as developed over the course of the thesis, and set out the main aims of an anarchist approach to society in light of this discussion. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the result of a series of arguments and discussions about the issue of political obligation. I am indebted to those who inspired my thinking and helped me to formulate the ideas presented. They are too many to mention. I would particularly like to thank my supervisor Dr Veronique Munoz- Darde for her continual advice, encouragement and devotion. I would also like to thank my secondary supervisor Professor Jonathan Wolff for many inspiring conversations and for his final advice on my work. Furthermore, I would like to thank my fellow students for their valuable comments and their distinctive impression on my student life. Among them: James Wilson, Ian Hulse, Isabella Muzio and Alex Voorhoeve. Special thanks to Raj Sehgal, for his insightful criticism and recommendations; and to Saladin Meckled-Garcia for providing a permanent inspiration for my work. I am grateful to my parents for their endless love and support. I would like to thank professor Vasos Karageorgis, my mentor, for his constant support and influence on me; and Meropi Tsimili who has been a mother, a teacher and a real friend to me. Also, I would like to thank my dear friend Christo Yiannitsa, who helped me be disciplined at times of hard work. Special thanks to my friend and flatmate Marius for keeping me sane when I drove him to the edge and for his indispensable help with navigating the computer mystery; my cousin George for his humour and insight at difficult times; my friends Melina and Stella for making it all much easier and enjoyable; my childhood friend Rena for her impact on my intellectual growth and my life in general; and Alexander for his continued encouragement and belief in me. All my love and thanks to my beloved Kosta, who gave me the strength to make things that matter to me come true. Finally, I would like to thank especially the Arts and Humanities Research Board for financing my studies and thus making the completion of this work possible. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................7 1.T h e p r o b l e m o f p o l it ic a l o b l ig a t io n ................................................................................................................ 8 2.THE VARIETY OF ANARCHISMS. DEFINING CRITICAL PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHISM ..........................16 3.UNDERLYING IDEAS.............................................................................................................................................................21 CHAPTER ONE. WHAT THE PROBLEM IS................................................................................28 1.1.T h e p a r a d o x o f a u t h o r it y .................................... 28 1.2.DISSOLVING THE PARADOX. ROUSSEAU AS A PARADIGM OF STATE JUSTIFICATION .........................35 1.3.R a z ’s t h e o r y a s an illustration ..................................................................................................................... 37 1.4.THE ARGUMENT FOR CRITICAL PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHISM...................................................................45 1.4.1.An alternative to prominent positions on the state ...........................................................................................46 1.4.2.Improving the way critical philosophical anarchists see their position. Simmons’ theory as an illustration...................................................................................................................................................................... 49 1.4.2.i.Simmons’ theory ................................................................................................................................................. 49 1.4.2.ii.Specific arguments against Simmons ........................................................................................................... 55 1.4.2.iii.A more general departure from Simmons’ approach..........................................................................57 1.5.CONCLUSIO N........................................................................................................................................................................66 CHAPTER TWO. THE LIMITS OF VOLUNTARISM.................................................................68 2.1.AN ANARCHIST CRITICISM OF VOLUNTARIST THEORIES OF POLITICAL OBLIGATION .........................70 2.1.1.Actual Consent ..............................................................................................................................................................71 2.1.2.Tacit consent ................................................................................................................................................................. 74 2.1.3.Hypothetical consent ....................................................................................................................................................81 2.1.4.Raz on consent .............................................................................................................................................................85 2.1.5.Social contract theories .................................................................................................. 86 2.1.6.A defence of hypothetical contractual ism .............................................................................................................93 2.2.DISMISSING ‘THE CONCEPTUAL ARGUMENT’ FOR POLITICAL OBLIGATION ............................................ 98 2.3.TH E IMPLICATIONS OF THE ANARCHIST CRITICISM OF CONSENT ...........................................................101 CHAPTER THREE. AN ANARCHIST CRITIQUE OF THE RAWLSIAN IDEA OF A NATURAL DUTY OF JUSTICE............................................................................................107 3.1.RAWLS’ THEORY AND THE NATURAL DUTY OF JUSTICE .............................................................................108 3.2.A n a n a r c h is t c r it ic is m o f t h e n a t u r a l d u ty o f j u s t ic e............................................................. I l l 3.2.1.Against the justice of political institutions as a ground of political obligation ........................................ I l l 3.2.2.The argument arising from particularity..............................................................................................................117
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1The Strengths and Limits of Philosophical Anarchism
    THE STRENGTHS AND LIMITS OF 1 PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHISM THE BASIC DEFINITION of state legitimacy as the exclusive right to make, apply, and enforce laws is common, clearly visible in Max Weber and contemporary political philosophy and found less explicitly in the classical contract thinkers.1 A. John Simmons, drawing on Locke, writes that “A state’s (or government’s) legitimacy is the complex moral right it possesses to be the exclusive imposer of binding duties on its sub- jects, to have its subjects comply with these duties, and to use coercion to enforce the duties” (Simmons 2001, 130). Similar definitions—whether vis-à-vis legitimacy or authority—with slight alterations of terms and in conjunction with a series of other ideas and conditions (for example, “authoritativeness,” background criteria, the difference between force and violence) can be found in Robert Paul Wolff (1998, 4), Joseph Raz (2009), Richard Flathman (1980), Leslie Green (1988), David Copp (1999), Hannah Pitkin (1965, 1966), and others. The point is that the justification of state legitimacy and the (corresponding) obligation to obey involve, more often than not, making, applying, and enforcing laws: political power. Often left out of these discussions—with important exceptions—are the real practices of legitimate statehood, and perhaps for good reason. What philosophers who explore the question of legitimacy and authority are most often interested in—for a variety of reasons—is the relation of the individ- ual to the state, that is, whether and to what extent a citizen (or sometimes a noncitizen) has an obligation to obey the state. As Raz notes, part of the explanation for this is that contemporary philosophical interest in questions of political obligation emerged in response to political events in the 1960s (Raz 1981, 105).
    [Show full text]
  • Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
    individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy
    Brill’s Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy Edited by Nathan Jun LEIDEN | BOSTON For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV Contents Editor’s Preface ix Acknowledgments xix About the Contributors xx Anarchism and Philosophy: A Critical Introduction 1 Nathan Jun 1 Anarchism and Aesthetics 39 Allan Antliff 2 Anarchism and Liberalism 51 Bruce Buchan 3 Anarchism and Markets 81 Kevin Carson 4 Anarchism and Religion 120 Alexandre Christoyannopoulos and Lara Apps 5 Anarchism and Pacifism 152 Andrew Fiala 6 Anarchism and Moral Philosophy 171 Benjamin Franks 7 Anarchism and Nationalism 196 Uri Gordon 8 Anarchism and Sexuality 216 Sandra Jeppesen and Holly Nazar 9 Anarchism and Feminism 253 Ruth Kinna For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV viii CONTENTS 10 Anarchism and Libertarianism 285 Roderick T. Long 11 Anarchism, Poststructuralism, and Contemporary European Philosophy 318 Todd May 12 Anarchism and Analytic Philosophy 341 Paul McLaughlin 13 Anarchism and Environmental Philosophy 369 Brian Morris 14 Anarchism and Psychoanalysis 401 Saul Newman 15 Anarchism and Nineteenth-Century European Philosophy 434 Pablo Abufom Silva and Alex Prichard 16 Anarchism and Nineteenth-Century American Political Thought 454 Crispin Sartwell 17 Anarchism and Phenomenology 484 Joeri Schrijvers 18 Anarchism and Marxism 505 Lucien van der Walt 19 Anarchism and Existentialism 559 Shane Wahl Index of Proper Names 583 For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV CHAPTER 10 Anarchism and Libertarianism Roderick T. Long Introduction
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchism and Non-Domination
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE Anarchism and non-domination AUTHORS Kinna, R; Prichard, WAL JOURNAL Journal of Political Ideologies DEPOSITED IN ORE 08 November 2017 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/30200 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Journal of Political Ideologies ISSN: 1356-9317 (Print) 1469-9613 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjpi20 Anarchism and non-domination Ruth Kinna & Alex Prichard To cite this article: Ruth Kinna & Alex Prichard (2019) Anarchism and non-domination, Journal of Political Ideologies, 24:3, 221-240, DOI: 10.1080/13569317.2019.1633100 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2019.1633100 © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Published online: 24 Jun 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 401 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjpi20 JOURNAL OF POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES 2019, VOL. 24, NO. 3, 221–240 https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2019.1633100 Anarchism and non-domination Ruth Kinnaa and Alex Prichardb aPOLIS, School of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK; bDepartment of Politics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK ABSTRACT In this article we recover the classical anarchist deployment of repub- lican tropes of non-domination, tyranny and slavery, to expose the conservative limits of the contemporary neo-Roman republican revival.
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchy and Anti-Intellectualism: Reason, Foundationalism, and the Anarchist Tradition Joaquin A
    Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 6-23-2016 Anarchy and Anti-Intellectualism: Reason, Foundationalism, and the Anarchist Tradition Joaquin A. Pedroso [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC000744 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons, and the Political Theory Commons Recommended Citation Pedroso, Joaquin A., "Anarchy and Anti-Intellectualism: Reason, Foundationalism, and the Anarchist Tradition" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2578. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2578 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida ANARCHY AND ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM: REASON, FOUNDATIONALISM, AND THE ANARCHIST TRADITION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in POLITICAL SCIENCE by Joaquin A. Pedroso 2016 To: Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation, written by Joaquin A. Pedroso, and entitled Anarchy and Anti- Intellectualism: Reason, Foundationalism, and the Anarchist Tradition, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Paul Warren _______________________________________ Bruce Hauptli _______________________________________ Ronald Cox _______________________________________ Harry Gould _______________________________________ Clement Fatovic, Major Professor Date of Defense: June 23, 2016 The dissertation of Joaquin A.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Contractarianism
    15 Social Contractarianism John Thrasher It is a curious accident of history that libertarianism has been principally defned by its greatest enemies rather than its friends. In academic philosophy, this was accomplished by G. A. Cohen in his attacks on Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), which culminated in his Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995). Cohen identi- fed the central elements of libertarianism as the self-ownership thesis, which is crucial for justifying strong private-property rights and, subsequently, substantial limitations on state power to interfere with those rights. Tis defnition was continued by the so-called “lef-libertarians” who followed him (Steiner 1994; Vallentyne & Steiner 2000; Vallentyne et al. 2005; Otsuka 2005).1 Tese thinkers combine a commitment to self-ownership and rights with a Marxist and egalitarian views about property. On this view, libertarianism is held to be fundamentally a doctrine about property rights and self-ownership. Tis is, I will argue, a serious mistake that has hobbled libertarian theory and practice by entrenching two dominant antinomies in libertarian theory. Libertarianism is and should be, I will argue, a doctrine about individual freedom and rights. Te proper emphasis of libertarian theory should be on voluntary inter- action and benefcial cooperation, not, in the frst instance, on property rights. Tis may seem like a distinction without a diference, but the focus on one Lockean strain of thought (natural rights) while ignoring another (contractarianism) highlights one important aspect of libertarianism at the expense of the other. To reorient libertari- anism on frmer theoretical and practical ground, libertarians should embrace their contractarian roots.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews: Anarchism: from Theory to Practice
    Rejecting the arguments of those who described the strikes as a struggle for the right to form trade unions, he wrote, "It is this general lack of rights typical of Russian life, this hopelessness and impossibility of fighting for particular rights, and this incorrigibility of the tsarist monarchy and its entire regime, that stood out so distinctly against the background of the Lena events as to fire the masses with revolutionary ardour.” It was indeed the incorrigibility of the tsarist regime, resisting reform and revolution alike, which accounted in large measure for the Russian workers, interested in the first place in the economic struggle to improve working conditions, deciding to follow the slogans of the revolutionary Bolsheviks, which combined the demand for the eight hour day with the overthrow of the autocracv. The arid and frequently repeated estimate of Lenin’s contribution to revolu­ tionary theory and practice as being that of a technologist of revolution and the disinterment of the stinking corpse of the Stalinist model of the party in order to pronounce the Leninist concept of organisation irrelevant today can come only from those who have never understood the dialectics of revolutionary thinking or who need to justify their own abandonment of a revolutionary position. D a p h n e G o l l a n ANARCHISM: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE, by Daniel Guerin. Introduction by Noam Chomsky. Monthly Review Press, US $6.00, 166 pp. DANIEL GUERIN’S BOOK is much inferior to anarchist sympathiser George Woodcock's Anarchism . Besides including only half the material Woodcock does, omitting an index and being written in a sloppy and ambiguous style, it is as extremely tendentious as Guerin’s previous books about the French Revolu­ tion have been.
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchism." Anarchism and Political Modernity
    Jun, Nathan. "Anarchism." Anarchism and Political Modernity. New York: Continuum, 2012. 109– 154. Contemporary Anarchist Studies. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 25 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501306785.ch-005>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 25 September 2021, 14:57 UTC. Copyright © Nathan Jun 2012. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 5 Anarchism History of the bogeyman American history has always had its bogeymen—shadowy villains who creep from out the closets and under the beds of unwary citizens, secretly plotting the overthrow of the Republic, ever ready to unleash revolutionary violence at a moment’s notice. Today, he is the turbaned terrorist of generic Arabian extraction; fi fty years ago he was the stiletto-wielding communist spy cleverly disguised as your next-door neighbor. Perhaps the greatest bogeyman of all, however, was the black-clad, bomb-throwing anarchist of the American fi n de siècle —a murderous psychopath invariably portrayed as a Jewish-Italian half-breed with a hook nose and a waxed mustache. 1 The anarchist embodied the Nativists’ worst fears: a nation overrun by aliens and polluted with their dangerous “foreign” dogmas, inscrutable folkways, and mysterious languages. 2 There were, of course, real bogeymen. Between 1870 and 1920, individuals identifi ed as anarchists perpetrated countless acts of terror throughout Europe and North America. 3 They also successfully assassinated numerous heads of state, including, but not limited to, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, President Sadi Carnot of France, Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas of Spain, King Umberto I of Italy, President William McKinley of the United States, Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin of Russia, Prime Minister José Canalejas of Spain, and King George I of Greece.
    [Show full text]
  • Benjamin Tucker, Liberty, and Individualist Anarchism
    SUBSCRIBE NOW AND RECEIVE CRISIS AND LEVIATHAN* FREE! “The Independent Review does not accept “The Independent Review is pronouncements of government officials nor the excellent.” conventional wisdom at face value.” —GARY BECKER, Noble Laureate —JOHN R. MACARTHUR, Publisher, Harper’s in Economic Sciences Subscribe to The Independent Review and receive a free book of your choice* such as the 25th Anniversary Edition of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, by Founding Editor Robert Higgs. This quarterly journal, guided by co-editors Christopher J. Coyne, and Michael C. Munger, and Robert M. Whaples offers leading-edge insights on today’s most critical issues in economics, healthcare, education, law, history, political science, philosophy, and sociology. Thought-provoking and educational, The Independent Review is blazing the way toward informed debate! Student? Educator? Journalist? Business or civic leader? Engaged citizen? This journal is for YOU! *Order today for more FREE book options Perfect for students or anyone on the go! The Independent Review is available on mobile devices or tablets: iOS devices, Amazon Kindle Fire, or Android through Magzter. INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE, 100 SWAN WAY, OAKLAND, CA 94621 • 800-927-8733 • [email protected] PROMO CODE IRA1703 Benjamin Tucker, Liberty, and Individualist Anarchism —————— ✦ —————— WENDY MCELROY iberty, Equality, Fraternity, these three; but the greatest of these is Lib- erty. Formerly the price of Liberty was eternal vigilance, but now it can be had for fifty cents a year.” So wrote Benjamin Ricketson Tucker “L 1 (1854–1939) on the first page of the first issue of Liberty. The American periodical Liberty,2 edited and published by Tucker from August 1881 to April 1908, is widely considered to be the finest individualist-anarchist peri- odical ever published in the English language.
    [Show full text]
  • 389 Gary Chartier the Anarchist Tradition of Thought Exhibits a High and Perhaps Unique Degree of Dichotomization. It Also Exhib
    book reviews 389 Gary Chartier Anarchy and Legal Order: Law and Politics for a Stateless Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 416 pp. isbn 9781107032286 (hbk). £70.00. The anarchist tradition of thought exhibits a high and perhaps unique degree of dichotomization. It also exhibits an unusual and perhaps unique means of resolving the resulting dichotomies. The principal lines of dichotomization run along the following lines: political versus philosophical anarchism; communal versus individualist anarchism; and socialist versus capitalist anarchism. Not infrequently, these dichotomies are run together such that political/commu- nal/socialist anarchism (or ‘leftist’ anarchism, for short) is set against philo- sophical/individual/capitalist anarchism (or ‘rightist’ anarchism, for short). A common resolution of this dichotomized state of affairs is to deny anarchist status to the other side (in the case of leftist anarchists, who argue that ‘rightist anarchism’ is a contradiction in terms) or to ignore the other side (in the case of rightist anarchists, who seem to believe that leftist anarchism is unworthy of serious theoretical consideration). This is the context in which Gary Chartier offers his contribution to the an- archist tradition of thought. Chartier does not merely supplement this tradi- tion; he challenges – sharply and provocatively – its dichotomized state by advancing a philosophical account of what we might call a lawful market anar- chism that is (according to Chartier, at least) ‘identifiably leftist, anti-capitalist, and socialist’ (p. xiii). Thus, Chartier is anti-state but pro-law and pro-market but anti-capitalist. He is also, in the terms of the traditional anarchist dichoto- mies introduced above, a philosophical anarchist, a (qualified) individualist anarchist, and (he maintains) a socialist anarchist; that is, from the traditional perspective, an unconventional leftist.
    [Show full text]
  • An Approach to the Problem of Authority Magda Egoumenides* Special Scientist, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
    ness & Fi si na u n B c i f a o l l A a Journal of f f Egoumenides, J Bus Fin Aff 2017, 6:1 n a r i r u s o J DOI: 10.4172/2167-0234.1000243 ISSN: 2167-0234 Business & Financial Affairs Research Article Open Access An Approach to the Problem of Authority Magda Egoumenides* Special Scientist, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Abstract This paper examines the central problem of authority as illustrated through the lenses of philosophical anarchism. The justification of authority constitutes the paramount problem of political philosophy. The philosophical debate on political obligation, initiated by defenders of the state and anarchists, concerns the justification of a special bond between citizens and political institutions and lies at the centre of the discussion on authority. Philosophical anarchism’s criticism of political obligation creates great difficulties to state justification. Yet, this anarchist strand has been dismissed as a merely negative critique of political authority, with no alternative positive proposal of its own. In disagreement with this view, this paper aims at improving our idea of authority by revealing the value of the anarchist approach. For this I focus on the position of critical philosophical anarchism and on three theorists each of whom relates in a significant way to this position. I discuss Rousseau as a traditional theorist whose view is a basic inspiration for the anarchist approach to political institutions. Joseph Raz’s theory is analyzed as a view largely compatible with critical philosophical anarchism’s perspective on state authority.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary 1 of 41
    RANDY E. BARNETT, "THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LYSANDER SPOONDER" A DISCUSSION HELD IN JANUARY, 2016. Online: <http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/lm-spooner Ebooks: <http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2722>. The Unconstitutionality of Slavery (Boston: Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) Bela Marsh, 1860) Summary In this month’s Liberty Matters online discussion Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, explores the political thought and constitutional theories of the 19th century American individualist, anarchist, and abolitionist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887). He concludes that “Spooner’s approach to constitutional interpretation, construction, and legitimacy is as fresh today as it was in 1845. Indeed, it is more sophisticated and persuasive than the theorizing of most contemporary legal academics.” He is joined in the discussion by Roderick T. Long, professor of philosophy at Auburn University, Aeon J. Skoble, professor of philosophy at Bridgewater State University, and Matt Zwolinski, associate professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego. 1 of 41 About Liberty Matters and the Online Library of Liberty “Liberty Matters” is a project of Liberty Fund, Inc. which is part of the Online Library of Liberty website. Every two months we ask a leading scholar to present an argument on a particular topic “pertaining to liberty” in a “Lead Essay” and to develop this argument at some length. The “Lead Essay” is posted in the first week of the month. Three or four other scholars will respond to this essay in slightly shorter “Response Essays” during the second week of the month. Once all these ideas and arguments are on the table an open discussion between the various parties takes place over the course of the following weeks.
    [Show full text]