European University Institute Library

Technology and the End of Authority, What Is Government For?, by Jason Kuznicki

eng

0

non fiction

Technology and the End of Authority

electronic resource

dictionaries

970041822

by Jason Kuznicki

Springer eBooks

What Is Government For?

This book provides a critical survey of Western political philosophy from a classical liberal perspective, paying particular attention to knowledge problems and the problem of political authority. Its central argument is that the state is a tool for solving a historically changing set of problems, and that, as a tool, the state is frequently deficient on both moral and practical grounds. Government action can be considered as a response to a set of problems, all of which may conceivably be solved in some other manner as well. The book examines in particular the relationship between the state and technology over time. Technological developments may make the state more or less necessary over time, which is a consideration that is relatively new in the history of political philosophy, but increasingly important. The book is organized chronologically and concludes with an essay on trends in the history of political philosophy, as well as its surprisingly bright prospects for future development.--, Provided by publisher

Introduction: The March of God in the World -- The Ancient State and the Myth of Marathon -- The Ancient Dissenters -- Christianity and the City of Man: From Retreat to Reform -- The March of the State in the Early Modern World -- The Social Contractarians: Can an Agreement Specify What Government is For? -- The Modern Omnipotent State -- The Structures of Political Theory -- The State Is a Bundle -- Some Objections to the Theory -- The Falsification of State Action -- Advancing Technology Demands Intellectual Modesty -- On Trade as a Central Feature of Society.