An instrumentalist theory of political legitimacy / Matthias Brinkmann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brinkmann, Matthias, 1986- author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Legitimacy of governments--Philosophy.

Legitimacy of governments.

Justice--Philosophy.

Justice.

Instrumentalism (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2024]

Summary:

What justifies political power? Most philosophers argue that consent or democracy are important, in other words, it matters how power is exercised. But this book argues that outcomes primarily matter to justifying power.

Contents:

Cover

An Instrumentalist Theory of Political Legitimacy

Copyright

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Myths

Questions

Answers

Methodology

Overview

Reader's Guide

Part I Understanding Legitimacy

1: The Concept of Political Legitimacy

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Power as the Problem of Legitimacy

1.3 Normative and Descriptive Legitimacy

1.3.1 Three Definitions of Legitimacy

1.3.2 'Legitimate' instead of 'Legitimacy'?

1.4 The Right to Rule

1.4.1 Hohfeldian Commitments

1.4.2 Single-Incident Views

1.5 Legitimacy without Moral Relations

1.6 Objections to Minimalism

1.6.1 Is Minimal Legitimacy Still Legitimacy?

1.6.2 Are Moral Relations Fundamental?

2: Legitimacy without Authority

2.1 Legitimacy and Authority

2.2 The Authority Model

2.3 The Transmission Model

2.4 Contrasting Models

2.4.1 Negative Support for the Transmission Model

2.4.2 Positive Support for the Transmission Model

2.5 The Objection from Moral Relations

2.6 The Objection from Sovereignty

2.7 Political Life without Authority

2.7.1 Theoretical Implications

2.7.2 Practical Implications

3: Theories of Legitimacy

3.1 Mapping the Landscape

3.2 Voluntarist Theories

3.2.1 Explicit Consent

3.2.2 Anarchism

3.2.3 Implicit Consent

3.2.4 Consent 'Light'

3.2.5 Democracy

3.2.6 Hypothetical Consent and Public Justification

3.3 Relational Theories

3.4 Anti-Moralist Theories

3.4.1 Self-Interest

3.4.2 Realism

3.5 Rationalist Theories

3.5.1 Natural Duties

3.5.2 Raz's Normal Justification Thesis

3.5.3 Consequentialism

3.6 Hybrid Views

3.7 Instrumentalism

PART II CONSTRUCTINGINSTRUMENTALISM

4: An Abstract Theory of Justice

4.1 Ultra-generic, Generic, and Liberal Instrumentalism

4.2 A Methodological Problem

4.3 Moral Foundations: Welfare and Dignity

4.3.1 Welfare

4.3.2 Dignity

4.4 Structure: Aims and Constraints

4.4.1 Aims and Constraints

4.4.2 Rejecting Two Extremes

4.5 Dignity-Based Components of Justice

4.5.1 Dignity-Based Constraints

4.5.2 Violation-Minimizing Aims

4.5.3 Other Dignity-Based Aims

4.6 Welfare-Based Components of Justice

4.6.1 A Political Account of Welfare

4.6.2 The Interest Theory of Rights

4.6.3 The Distributive Good

4.7 Justice within a Political Community

4.7.1 Proto-rights and Political Community

4.7.2 Concretizing Justice

4.7.3 Distributing Power

4.8 The Substantivity of Justice

4.8.1 Substantivity

4.8.2 The Inferior Weight of Procedural Goods

4.8.3 The Minor Relevance of Procedures to Dignity

5: The Importance of Justice

5.1 Continuing the Argument

5.2 Justice and Its Competitors

5.2.1 The Concept of Justice

5.2.2 Two Competitors

5.3 Priority Arguments

5.4 Minimalist Competitors

5.4.1 Core Minimalist Ideas

5.4.2 The Reconciliationist Argument

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2024.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on February 9, 2024).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

0-19-890117-8

OCLC:

1420470220