A Theory of Political Obligation: Membership, Commitment, and the Bonds of Society

by Margaret Gilbert

Overview

Margaret Gilbert offers an incisive new approach to a classic problem of political philosophy: when and why should I do what the law tells me to do? Do I have special obligations to conform to the laws of my own country and if so, why? In what sense, if any, must I fight in wars in which my country is engaged, if ordered to do so, or suffer the penalty for law breaking—including the death penalty? Gilbert's accessible book offers a provocative and compelling case in favor of citizens' obligations to the state, while examining how these can be squared with self-interest and other competing considerations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199274956
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/13/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Margaret Gilbert is Professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities she has held visiting positions as teacher and researcher at numerous institutions including Princeton University, UCLA, the Institute for Advanced Study, Oxford University and King's College London. Her previous books are On Social Facts (1989), Living Together (1996), Sociality and Responsibility (2000), and (in French) Marcher Ensemble.

Table of Contents

I. A central problem of political obligation1. The problem2. Obligations: initial points3. In pursuit of political obligation4. Actual contract theory: attractions5. Actual contract theory: objectionsII. Societies, membership, and obligation6. Social groups: starting small7. Joint commitment and obligation8. Societies as plural subjectsIII. A theory of political obligation9. Political societies10. Reconsidering actual contract theory11. The plural subject theory of political obligation12. Summary and prospect