DPhil Seminar (Wednesday - Week 6, HT22)

Natural Duty accounts of political legitimacy must answer the particularity problem. Roughly put, if Sweden were to pass a law requiring all UK citizens to self isolate due to COVID, why would such a law be illegitimate? Why do we have obligations to obey the UK government but not the Swedish one? Any solution to the particularity problem must posit some 'localising' factor. I discuss the possibility of a natural duty to co-operate and the collective action problems that get in the way. I claim that the solutions to these collective action problems are the 'localising' factor required to solve the particularity problem.

This meeting will be hybrid. Please contact matthew.hewson@philosophy.ox.ac.uk for a link.