The Nature of Authority
Published on 9. January 2025
Book
Hardback
76 pages
978-1-009-50781-3 (ISBN)
Description
The Nature of Authority provides a comprehensive theory of the nature of authoritative guidance. It argues that the following claims exhaust the constitutive properties of authoritative tellings: authoritative tellings (1) tell subjects what to do; (2) give rise to reasons to comply; (3) are issued by personal beings and govern the behavior of personal beings; (4) are issued by rationally competent beings and govern the behavior of rationally competent beings; (5) are issued under a claim of right that counts as plausible in virtue of being grounded in a system to which subjects acquiesce as governing their behavior; (6) are issued by beings with the power to impose their will on subjects with respect to what they do; (7) create obligations to comply; and (8) are backed by a threat of detriment that is reasonably contrived to deter enough noncompliance to enable the system to minimally achieve its ends.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
275 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-50781-3 (9781009507813)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kenneth Einar Himma
The Nature of Authority
Book
01/2025
Cambridge University Press
€26.40
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Person
Content
Preface; Part I. Preliminary Considerations: 1. Introduction; 2. The existence conditions of practical authority; 3. Claims (1) through (7) and the sanctions thesis; 4. The Razian theory of practical authority; Part II. The Existence Conditions of Practical Authority; 5. The constitutive properties of authoritative tellings; 6. Other candidates for constitutive properties of authoritative tellings; Part III. Claims (1) through (7) and the Sanctions Thesis: 7. Practical authority as telling people what to do; 8. Practical authority as a source of reasons to comply; 9. Practical authority as a personal relationship; 10. Practical authority as rational; 11. Practical authority as the power of will-imposition; 12. Practical authority as grounded in a claim of right; 13. Practical authority as giving rise to obligations; 14. Must authoritative tellings create exclusionary reasons?; 15. Objections - Of angels and emergency volunteers; Conclusions; Bibliography.