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The third argument is meant to show that subjects cannot justly punish their sovereigns.31 1. A cannot justly punish B for A's own actions. 2. Subjects authorize their sovereign's actions. 3. Therefore, subjects cannot justly punish their sovereign.
The idea that the sovereign represents the people seems silly in the sense that if the subjects disobey they are killed, and that the system of morality which is dominant is generally enforced by power institutions controlled by those at the higher end of society. If a church brainwashes a peasantry into believing their rulers are acting in their own will as represenatives/actors and those church officials exist in a symbiotic relationship with the state I would think that ought to nullify the idea that they are really authorizing the sovereign, as without being free of false ideals one doesn't control ones' self and without the right to give one cannot give authorization.
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Even with this maximal surrender of rights, the subjects could authorize the sovereign's actions as their own.
Is it not possible to alienate the ability to authorize actions? I'm confused on this.
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Authorization is more difficult to understand. Suppose A authorizes B. According to Hobbes, this would make B an "artificial person" whose words and actions are "owned" by A, the "author."
Author as in that who has authority as seen in arendt reading
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. Indeed, some scholars argue that the social contract is inconsistent on the grounds that the rights that are surrendered in the alienation clause cannot be extended to the sovereign in the authorization clause. I believe that the interpretation of authorization that underwrites this objection is mistaken. I will show that, as a general matter, it is possible to authorize another person's actions without extending rights to that person and that, in the particular case of the social contract, the subjects do not extend their rights to the sovereign. With the proper understanding of authorization in hand, I can show that the social contract is consistent and also explain its significance for Hobbes.
Primary task of paper
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