Abstract

The dissertation explores the relation between the varieties of contractarianism and legitimate political authority. The first chapter defines the idea of legitimacy and responds to two objections to the project. The second chapter examines the idea of a social contract and defends its use as the proper heuristic for understanding political authority. Drawing on the link between group membership and obligation, the third chapter develops an account of actual contractarianism which highlights the connection between actual popular support and stability. The fourth chapter, appealing to recent work by Scanlon and Nagel, explores the implications of the idea of hypothetical unanimity for thinking about morally rightful political institutions. The final chapter articulates the uneasy relation between popular support and ideal justice, and discusses the role played by judgment in understanding legitimacy