Card 6.4.3 · Root VI — The Philosophy of X Family
Sovereignty and the State
Who holds final authority, and what makes it final?
This question asks what a state is, where supreme authority within it resides, and whether sovereignty is coherent.
On this card
Where it sits
Under 6.4 Political philosophy. Borders 6.2 Philosophy of law, 6.6 Philosophy of history, 3.3.5 War.
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The rival answers
| Position | Sovereignty resides in |
|---|---|
| Absolutist | A single undivided authority; divided sovereignty is incoherent |
| Popular sovereignty | The people, however represented |
| Parliamentary | The legislature |
| Constitutional | A constitution above all offices; nobody holds unlimited authority |
| Pluralist | Nowhere in particular; authority is genuinely dispersed |
| Divine sovereignty | God; human authority is delegated and limited |
| Post-sovereign | The concept has been overtaken by international and transnational order |
Where do you stand?
Who holds final authority, and what makes it final?
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Key figures
| Figure | Dates | Tradition | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jean Bodin | 1530–1596 | French | Sovereignty as absolute and perpetual power |
| Thomas Hobbes | 1588–1679 | European modern | Undivided sovereign as the condition of peace |
| Al-Mawardi | 972–1058 | Islamic | The caliphate; conditions and limits of legitimate rule |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | 1712–1778 | European modern | Sovereignty inalienably in the people |
| Carl Schmitt | 1888–1985 | German | The sovereign is who decides the exception |
Talk about it here
Conversations about this question in Power & the state:
- Schmitt’s uncomfortable point survives: no constitution can fully govern its own emergencies 6 replies
- “The best ruler is barely noticed” is compatible with abandonment, and the Legalists exploited exactly that 6 replies
- Was Laozi the first laissez-faire economist? Why wu wei is not the invisible hand 6 replies
- Reading group: Rousseau’s Social Contract in four weeks, in French and English 6 replies
- Han Feizi was right that good government cannot wait for good rulers 6 replies
Join free to ask about it Everything in Power & the state
Connections
→ 6.4 · ↔ 6.2, 3.3.5, 6.6, 6.4.2 · ◇ absolutism, popular sovereignty, constitutionalism · ○ Islamic golden age; Early modern; Modern; Table 7
→ depends on · ↔ borders: genuine overlap, neither prior · ◇ answered by: points from question to answers · ○ appears in: points to the timeline and the comparisons
The full card is in the book
In The Coordinates of Thought this card goes on to a worked example that sets the answers against one case, and to where the question touches daily life — page 264.