Justifying the State Edited by Gene Callahan & Leye Komolafe

An edited volume in political philosophy

Justifying the State

Is there a duty to obey the state? Fifteen scholars examine the most important modern attempts to justify state authority, from Bosanquet, Gentile, Schmitt and Heidegger to Oakeshott, Rawls, Habermas, Raz, Gaus and Finnis, along with challenges to the very question.

Table of contents ↓

The frontispiece of Hobbes's Leviathan: a crowned giant, made of many people, rising over the land with sword and crozier

The Editors

Gene Callahan Gene Callahan New York University Leye Komolafe Leye Komolafe University of South Carolina

Contents

  1. 1
    Introduction Gene Callahan and Leye Komolafe
  2. 2
    Anarcho-Syndicalism and Anarcho-Capitalism in Light of Bernard Bosanquet's Philosophical Theory of the State Gene CallahanNew York University
  3. 3
    Giovanni Gentile and the State in interiore homine Spartaco PupoUniversity of Calabria
  4. 4
    Binding Prometheus: Carl Schmitt's Philosophy of the State Georgios KarakasisUniversity of Girona
  5. 5
    Heidegger on State Authority: Being, Nature, and History Taylor GreenCarleton University
  6. 6
    Michael Oakeshott on the Role of General Ideas and Purposes in Accounting for Authority of the Modern State W. John CoatsConnecticut College
  7. 7
    James Buchanan on the Limits of Liberty Alexander CraigSaint Mary's College
  8. 8
    John Rawls and the Original Position Jason FerrellConcordia University
  9. 9
    Jonathan Wolff’s Pluralist Theory of Political Obligation Leye KomolafeUniversity of South Carolina
  10. 10
    Jürgen Habermas on Justifying the State through Communicative Rationality Oris Kondwani ChimphambanoUniversity of Malawi
  11. 11
    A Razian Audit of State Authority: Political Obligation, Legal Directives, and the Limits of Legitimate Power Karim DharamsiMount Royal University
  12. 12
    Gerald Gaus's Justification for the State Kevin VallierUniversity of Toledo
  13. 13
    Simmons on Justifying the State Jeff CarrollWest Virginia University
  14. 14
    Coercion All the Way Down: A Ripsteinian Justification of the State Chrysogonus OkwennaUniversity of British Columbia
  15. 15
    John Finnis on Political Authority and Law as Requirements of Practical Reason Melissa MoschellaUniversity of Notre Dame
  16. 16
    Is Justification of the Existence of Government a Useful Question? Daniel B. KleinGeorge Mason University

Click on a chapter title to read its abstract, or a contributor's name to read their biography.