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The Concept of Legitimacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2022

N. P. Adams Open the ORCID record for N. P. Adams [Opens in a new window]
N. P. Adams*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
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Email: npadams@virginia.com
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Abstract

I argue that legitimacy discourses serve a gatekeeping function. They give practitioners telic standards for riding herd on social practices, ensuring that minimally acceptable versions of the practice are implemented. Such a function is a necessary part of implementing formalized social practices, especially including law. This gatekeeping account shows that political philosophers have misunderstood legitimacy. It is not secondary to justice and only necessary because we cannot agree about justice; instead, it is a necessary feature of actual human social practices, which must be implemented via practitioners’ discretion in changing contexts.

Keywords

Legitimacyjusticelawsocial practicesroles
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , May 2022 , pp. 381 - 395
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Canadian Journal of Philosophy

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