Philosophy, despite its typical attitude of detachment and abstraction, has for most of its long history been engaged with the practical and mundane-seeming question of whether there is a duty to obey the law. As Matthew Kramer has recently summarized: “For centuries, political and legal theorists have pondered whether each person is under a general obligation of obedience to the legal norms of the society wherein he or she lives. The obligation at issue in those theorists' discussions is usually taken (...) to be prima-facie, comprehensively applicable, universally borne, and content-independent.” This essay is a commentary on the current state of discussion of this perennial philosophical topic. (shrink)

Anarchist theory assumes that non-hierarchically organised societies both possible and desirable. To show the former requires empirical evidence and a discussion of the theoretical preconditions of cooperation. To show the latter, it is necessary to show that the faults found with the state can be remedied within non-hierarchically ordered societies. One obvious condition for a successful anarchist theory is that the solutions to these separate tasks are mutually consistent. It is the aim of this thesis to show that the theories (...) of Robert Paul Wolff and Robert Nozick are found wanting in this respect. Both their theories of agency rule out the possibility of non-coercive and stable cooperation, which is a necessary precondition for an anarchist society. I conclude with a brief discussion of Michael Taylor's communitarian proposal and defend it against the liberal. (shrink)