Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Political legitimacy should be understood as what creates... — Carmelics
    Home/Rights & Liberty
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Political legitimacy should be understood as what creates political authority, not merely what justifies it.

    Rights & LibertySocial Contract
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The problem of legitimacy centrally involves the justification of coercion.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Legitimacy must therefore explain the grounds under which coercive power is permissible, which is a creative rather than merely justificatory role.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Raz's service conception holds that authority is legitimate when it helps subjects conform to reasons that already apply to them independently.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If authority merely tracks pre-existing reasons, legitimacy justifies rather than creates the normative force of political obligations.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.The 'creation' framing illicitly smuggles in a Hobbesian voluntarism that Raz's influential account explicitly rejects as the wrong model.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Rawls treats legitimacy as a justificatory standard—coercion is legitimate when principles could be accepted by reasonable citizens—without entailing that legitimacy itself generates authority.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The distinction between creation and justification collapses if political authority derives from natural duties of justice that exist prior to any legitimating act or institution.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Topics

    Rights & LibertySocial Contract

    Related

    If authority merely tracks pre-existing reasons, legitimacy justifies rather tha...Legitimacy must therefore explain the grounds under which coercive power is perm...Rawls treats legitimacy as a justificatory standard—coercion is legitimate when ...Raz's service conception holds that authority is legitimate when it helps subjec...
    +3 moreShow less
    The 'creation' framing illicitly smuggles in a Hobbesian voluntarism that Raz's ...The distinction between creation and justification collapses if political author...The problem of legitimacy centrally involves the justification of coercion.

    Similar

    Therefore, legitimate political authority creates a liability for thos...84%Kant distinguishes between legitimate authority and effective authorit...81%Law necessarily claims to be a legitimate authority80%For something to claim legitimate authority, its directives must be id...79%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: legitimacy
    View source passageHide passage
    Simmons (2001) criticizes Rawls’ approach for mistakenly blurring the distinction between justifying the state and political legitimacy (see also section 2.3.). A Rawlsian could reply, however, that the problem of legitimacy centrally involves the justification of coercion and that legitimacy should thus be understood as what creates—rather than merely justifies—political authority. The following thought supports this claim. Rawls—in Political Liberalism—explicitly focuses on the democratic cont
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit