ABSTRACT
The chapter identifies authority as the principle of unity of a political community. A political community can aim at the common good only if it is structured in such a way that some actions of those who occupy certain positions in it are actions of the whole community. Given that humans can only rationally consent to actions that they see as leading to a good, authority must be seen by the members of the community as leading to a common good. In this way, consent supports authority that actually acts as binding principle and that shapes the practices and the habits of the members. In this way, the political community becomes a unity, i.e. an object with a certain degree of compactness. The chapter spells out the conditions of identity of a political community, including its relations to space and time. However, the political community is not a substance in the full sense, since its members maintain their own individual substantiality. Finally, the chapter considers the examples of secularism and multiculturalism to exemplify the practical significance of the proposed metaphysical outlook, in comparison with political liberalism.
