New Book: Deleting the State

The Legitimacy of Political Power is an Illusion

Oakland, CA—Many support the argument for smaller government, but why not go a step further? The state as we understand it today is not only morally unjustifiable, but also, thankfully, unnecessary. So argues the author of a new Independent Institute book.

Aeon J. Skoble (Independent Institute Research Fellow), author of Deleting the State: Requiem for an Illusion, argues that a peaceful, co-operative, functional social order is possible without government.

But life is “nasty, brutish, and short,” asserted 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Without the state, he claimed, man is “in that condition which is called War… every man, against every man.” For centuries, political philosophers and theorists have taken his argument for granted. But Skoble shows—using economics, legal theory, game theory, and a plethora of real-world examples—that Hobbes was wrong.

“If it is good for people to be free, then political authority is illegitimate. It is good for people to be free. So, political authority is illegitimate,” says Skoble.

Social cooperation is possible—and it can, and does, arise spontaneously.

Packed with urgent lessons, original insights, and unparalleled philosophical rigor, Deleting the State: Requiem for an Illusion is essential reading for anyone who dares imagine a freer world.

Author Biography:
Aeon J. Skoble is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and the Bruce and Patricia Bartlett Chair in Free Speech and Expression at Bridgewater State University. Professor Skoble is also the author of The Essential Robert Nozick (Fraser Institute, 2020).

For more information, contact Robert Ade, [email protected], or (510) 632-1366 ext. 114.

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For more information, visit Independent.org.