On the Edge of Anarchy

by Simmons, A. John

• ISBN13: 9780691033037
• ISBN10: 069103303X
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781400863549
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-09-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr
• More Book Details
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Summary

On the Edge of Anarchy completes A. John Simmons's exploration and development of Lockean moral and political philosophy, a project begun in The Lockean Theory of Rights (Princeton, 1992). In this new book, Simmons discusses the Lockean view of the nature of, grounds for, and limits on political relations between persons. Locke's ideas on this topic are probably the most influential in the history of political thought, but their philosophical virtues and implications have remained largely unappreciated. Here Simmons remedies this situation by treating Locke as a philosopher, rather than as a theologian or an activist writing rhetorical political tracts. Locke's works emerge not as episodes in the history of ideas but as bodies of arguments addressing the same questions as contemporary philosophy.
This book pursues the issues Locke raises far beyond the boundaries of his own texts and theories. By criticizing, streamlining, and developing Locke's views, Simmons elaborates a powerful Lockean political philosophy with strongly anarchistic implications. On the Edge of Anarchy will interest not only Locke specialists and political philosophers, but also students and professionals in philosophy, government, and law - and all others who are interested in the foundational political principles embraced and celebrated by Anglo-American societies.

Author Biography

A. John Simmons is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction	p. 3
Nonconsensual Relations	p. 11
The Lockean State of Nature	p. 13
Locke's State of Nature	p. 13
The Moral, Social, and Historical Dimensions	p. 23
The Point of State-of-Nature Stories	p. 33
Force and Right	p. 40
The State of War	p. 40
How Rights Are Lost	p. 46
Despotism: Slavery and Absolute Government	p. 48
Consent and Government	p. 57
Political Consent	p. 59
The Content of Lockean Consent	p. 59
Consent, Contract, and Trust	p. 68
The Appeal of Consent Theory	p. 72
The Varieties of Consent	p. 80
Express and Tacit Consent	p. 80
Majority Consent	p. 90
The Limits of Society	p. 99
Inalienable Rights	p. 101
The Property of Inalienability	p. 101
Locke on Inalienability	p. 108
Locke's Commitments	p. 119
Toleration	p. 123
Inalienability and Absolutism	p. 137
Dissolution and Resistance	p. 147
The Revolutionary Stance	p. 147
The Right of Resistance	p. 155
The Consequences of Dissolution	p. 167
The Duty to Resist	p. 178
Consent and the Edge of Anarchy	p. 193
The Critique of Lockean Consent Theory	p. 197
Hume's Attack	p. 197
The Meaning of Consent in Locke	p. 202
Consent, Obligation, and Anarchy	p. 218
Consent and Voting	p. 218
Consent and Residence	p. 225
Duress, Hard Choices, and Free Choice	p. 232
Lockean Anarchism	p. 248
Works Cited	p. 271
Index	p. 285
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