Revising Republican Liberty: What is the Difference Between a Disinterested Gentle Giant and a Deterred Criminal?

Res Publica 22 (4):369-386 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper assesses the most well thought out contemporary conception of republican liberty put forward by Philip Pettit and Quentin Skinner. I demonstrate that it is incoherent: at least insofar as it seeks to pick out a form of unfreedom not captured by the negative conception of liberty. This incoherence arises because Pettit and Skinner cannot both hold that republican unfreedom is defined by one agent’s mere capacity to interfere arbitrarily with another agent and, at the same time, claim that republican freedom can be promoted by deterrence mechanisms. My contribution to contemporary republican theory is to suggest that a coherent republican conception can be achieved, however, through an important revision. This is to replace Pettit and Skinner’s antonym of republican liberty—the power to interfere arbitrarily—with a higher order power—the power to determine arbitrarily rules with respect to interference. This revised conception does pick out a genuinely distinct extension of unfreedom from the negative liberty conception. I believe it also reflects an important intuitive sense in which we may understand ourselves to be unfree, that is, to live under the rule of another.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,169

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-10-20

Downloads
63 (#274,693)

6 months
10 (#318,981)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

Domination and democratic legislation.Sean Ingham & Frank Lovett - 2022 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 21 (2):97-121.
The neorepublican challenge to egalitarian-liberalism: evaluating justifications of redistributive institutions.Jürgen Sirsch & Doris Unger - 2019 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 24 (7):1000-1023.
The neorepublican challenge to egalitarian-liberalism: evaluating justifications of redistributive institutions.Jürgen Sirsch & Doris Unger - 2021 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 24 (7):1000-1023.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Republicanism: a theory of freedom and government.Philip Pettit (ed.) - 1997 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality.R. M. Dworkin - 2002 - Philosophical Quarterly 52 (208):377-389.
On the People’s Terms.Philip Pettit - 2012 - Political Theory 44 (5):697-706.
Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government.Philip Pettit - 1999 - Philosophical Quarterly 49 (196):415-419.

View all 23 references / Add more references