Political Authority

Question 1

moving to political philosophy from moral philosophy, what is the difference?

Answer 1

moral philosophy is concerned with values(what is good/bad) and norms(what is right wrong), political philosophy is concerned with values and norms as well but specifically to do with social and political arrangements

Question 2

is the question whether political authority exists a prescriptive or descriptive issue?

Answer 2

prescriptive

Question 3

what is coercion?

Answer 3

the use of force or the threat of force to get someone to do something

Question 4

what is the relation between government/state and coercion

Answer 4

in the absence of coercion, there isn’t a state(there may be something else)

Question 5

what is the “definition of a state according to distinguished theorists like thomas hobbes

Answer 5

The state is the human institution which retains the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force in the enforcement of its order

Question 6

is there a legitimate use of coercion, is it morally right or wrong? What are the 2 caveats when it comes to the use of coercion

Answer 6

1: coercion may not always be morally wrong, some possible morally acceptable cases, throwing a burglar out of a house, stopping people from boarding a boat when it has reached capacity etc
2: government is not the only thing in the coercion business, the distinction between non-government groups like gangs and other non-govt groups that the govt has outsourced coercion to like military

Question 7

what does it mean for political authority to exist?

Answer 7

it means that the government really has the permission to coerce its its subjects to obey orders or to warn subjects against disobeying.

Question 8

what are the 2 logical extremes of government

Answer 8

statism: some governments have political authority over their subjects, some of the time (Some Xs are Ys)
anarchism: no government has political authority over its subjects, political authority is an illusion (No Xs are Ys)