Practical Authority and Self-Knowledge

Abstract

This paper develops an account of practical authority with a view to understanding why obeying authority is somehow problematic. While an authoritative directive may provide a reason for action, as is often thought, it also supplies the content of an intention to act. In this sense, an authority is the author of the content of a subject’s practical knowledge, the knowledge with which the subject acts when obeying. As a consequence, under modestly idealized conditions, a person in authority has knowledge of the mind of the obedient subject in a way that breaks down the self-other asymmetries the subject has to her own mind vis-à-vis others, the sort of asymmetries which philosophers have taken as central to the concept of a person. This consequence suggests a novel explanation of why practical authority is problematic and the obstacles to achieving its legitimacy.