Autonomy and Legitimacy: An Internal Refutation of Consent Theory

Consent theory claims that political legitimacy rests on the consent of the governed. The theory has been marginalized in political philosophy due to the success of Hume’s objections, which observe that consent theory entails anarchism, as almost nobody has consented to be governed. However, these standard objections leave the foundations of consent theory untouched; the consent theorist, confident in the appeal of these foundations, can endorse anarchism in response. This article offers an objection that focuses on what makes consent normatively appealing in the first place, the value of individual autonomy. On almost any plausible reading of that foundation, one should not be a consent theorist.