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26 Ratio Juris 1 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/raju26 and id is 1 raw text is: Ratio Juris. Vol. 26 No. 1 March 2013 (1-15) The Particularities of Legitimacy: John Simmons on Political Obligation KEVIN WALTON* Abstract. In this paper, I examine the terms on which John Simmons rejects all arguments for a moral obligation to obey the law and so defends philosophical anarchism. Although I accept his rejection of several criteria on which others might and often do insist, I criticize his reliance on the conditions of generality and particularity. In doing so, I propose an alternative to his influential concep- tion of legitimacy. Introduction Whether one is bound to obey the law is part of the philosophical question of political obligation. Although the overall enquiry also considers the existence of positive requirements to contribute to the government of a polity by, for instance, voting in elections (when not legally compelled to do so), its negative element is my primary concern here.' More precisely, I am interested in the hugely significant work of John Simmons on this aspect of the problem. Yet more precisely, I examine the terms on which he defends (and others contest) his sceptical response. * I had the good fortune to present versions of this paper at seminars in Auckland, Canberra, Edinburgh, Krakow, and Melbourne. I am grateful to the audiences on those occasions as well as to several others for their discussion of it. For especially helpful comments, I thank Zenon Bankowski, Emilios Christdoulidis, Jonathan Crowe, Patrick Emerton, Jim Evans, and, for his commentary at the seminar in Melbourne in addition to his earlier feedback, Dale Smith. I am also indebted to the journal's referees for their reports. ' For recognition of these different facets of political obligation, see, among others, Edmund- son 2004, 217; Gans 1992, 8; Green 1988, 222; Harris 1990, 151; Higgins 2004, 1; Knowles 2010, 6; Raz 2009a, 127; Simmons 1979, 4-5. D 2013 The Author. Ratio Juris D 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden 02148, USA.

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