For and Against the State: New Philosophical Readings

by John T. Sanders, Jan Narveson (Editor)

Is government justified? This perennial question is central to political philosophy and has never been more alive than at the present time, in the midst of continuing political and social upheaval worldwide. This collection of new essays by thirteen philosophers addresses questions of political authority in light of recent work in political theory. Whether supporters or critics of the state, the authors make their arguments using up-to-date analytical tools, such as game and decision theory, and the hindsight provided by modern history. For and Against the State will be an important collection for students of philosophy, politics, economics, and history.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Sergei Moska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really disappointing set of essays. Some of the essays were just uninspired (yay, another explication of the Prisoner's Dilemma...), and a few were embarrassingly poorly argued. Many of those that were poorly argued were on the pro "market anarchism" camp. I'm no market anarchist, but I refuse to believe that this set of essays constitutes anywhere close to the most rigorous defense of that position.

There are two clear positives from this work, so far as I'm concerned. First, some (SOME) of the game theoretic discussions are useful in terms of examining the argument that states are necessary in order to solve Prisoners' Dilemmas. Second, Simmons' essay, "Philosophical Anarchism", is great. But since it was reproduced in a book that I already own (Simmons' fantastic collection of essays entitled "Justification and Legitimacy"), its inclusion here was irrelevant to me.