The state is often ascribed a special sort of authority, one that obliges citizens to obey its commands and entitles the state to enforce those commands through threats of violence. This book argues that this notion is a moral illusion: no one has ever possessed that sort of authority.

Table of Contents

Part I The Illusion of Authority

1 The Problem of Political Authority

2 The Traditional Social Contract Theory

3 The Hypothetical Social Contract Theory

4 The Authority of Democracy

5 Consequentialism and Fairness

6 The Psychology of Authority

7 What if There Is No Authority?

Part II Society without Authority

8 Evaluating Social Theories

9 The Logic of Predation

10 Individual Security in a Stateless Society

11 Criminal Justice and Dispute Resolution

12 War and Societal Defense

13 From Democracy to Anarchy

About the Author

Michael Huemer received his BA from UC Berkeley in 1992 and his PhD from Rutgers University in 1998. He is presently professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is the author of more than 50 academic articles in ethics, epistemology, political philosophy, and metaphysics, as well as three brilliant and fascinating books that everyone should buy: Skepticism and the Veil of Perception (2001), Ethical Intuitionism (2005), and The Problem of Political Authority (2013).