Political Obligation: A Critical Introduction

by Dudley Knowles

Political obligation is concerned with the clash between the individual’s claim to self-governance and the right of the state to claim obedience. It is a central and ancient problem in political philosophy. In this authoritative introduction, Dudley Knowles frames the problem of obligation in terms of the duties citizens have to the state and each other. Drawing on a wide range of key works in political philosophy, from Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume and G. W. F. Hegel to John Rawls, A. John Simmons, Joseph Raz and Ronald Dworkin, Political A Critical Introduction is an ideal starting point for those coming to the topic for the first time, as well as being an original and distinctive contribution to the literature. Knowles distinguishes the philosophical problem of obligation - which types of argument may successfully ground the legitimacy of the state and the duties of citizens - from the political problem of obligation - whether successful arguments apply to the actual citizens of particular states. Against the anarchist and modern skeptics, Knowles claims that a plurality of arguments promise success when carefully formulated and defended, and discusses in turn ancient and modern theories of social contract and consent, fairness and gratitude, utilitarianism, justice and a Samaritan duty of care for others. Against modern communitarians, he defends a distinctive ‘the state proposes, the citizen disposes’.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dudley Knowles is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Reviews

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an alright literature survey concerning the philosophical topic of political obligation. Although some sentences were nice and well-written, even poetic, I often found myself unmotivated to continue reading this; it was too dull. Though I do think the book is good (not amazing) at what it does: providing a reasonably short overview of what analytic philosophy has to say about political obligation (already quite a dull task). Moreover, I found myself disagreeing with Knowles' moral realist stance quite a lot. He writes that an 'imperfect' duty (opposed to a 'perfect duty) entails "a failure to comply being pathetically and shamefully immoral, hopefully a source of persisting feelings of guilt, but not liable to penal sanctions, legal or otherwise". Such moralising talk definitely reminds me of the kind of cruel ressentiment-filled stance towards wrong-doers rejected not only by Nietzsche, but also by Plato and Spinoza. It is a stance from which I like to distance myself as much as possible.

Nevertheless, this book will be useful for any student who needs to learn about what analytic philosophy has to say about political obligation. I have learned from it; there is no doubting that.