Response to commentaries: Public Authority: Paradox, Process, and Palindrome.

In the big picture the existence of government and the use of public authority are justified by the collective benefits that government can create. But if this is what Moore means when he refers to arbiters, it is not a tenable position: democracy does not create a collective "we", it creates governments and governments make laws. Their commitment contributed to the effectiveness of government; their self-belief risked undermining the legitimacy of government. I am grateful to Professors Benington, Hartley, Meynhardt, Moore and Peters for providing comments on my essay, and hope to do justice to their efforts in this response. [Extracted from the article]