Should We Consent to Be Governed?: A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy

by Stephen Nathanson

Rather than a survey of political philosophy, this concise text focuses on the problem of developing a personal outlook toward government and political life.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 1991

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting approach to introducing political philosophy. It leads students through three ways of thinking about the relationship of the citizen to the state: is the state owed our absolute allegiance, is it necessarily corrupt on behalf of the governing elite, and is it possible for states to be legitimate at all? Ultimately, thinking critically about these three questions leads Nathanson to conclude that the solution is the "critical citizen", exemplified by Martin Luther King, Jr., who defines "unjust laws" and then acts to oppose only those.

[Sam (◕‿◕✿) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had read half of this previously but never finished so picked this up yesterday again and restarted!

I deep dived into their examples on my own research but I think this is a great introduction to the main political philosophies and how we can begin to think about our position to the government.

I definitely align with critical citizenship to the core but it made me think a lot about its flaws.

[Maureen]

DNF. Originally assigned during a college course, I circled back in hopes of revisiting this text and couldn’t find the time to do so.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talks about 4 philosophies about government. Short and pretty much to the point.

[Chaston Kome · Rating 2 out of 5]

easy to follow, but doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny