The virtue of obedience is seen as outdated today, if not downright toxic - and yet are we any freer than our forebears?

In this provocative work, Jacob Phillips argues not. Many feel unable to speak freely, their opinions policed by the implicit or explicit threat of coercion. The racialisation of all social problems traps people under the weight of impersonal categorisation. Impending ecological disaster is the ultimate of all threats to our freedoms and well-being, and living in a disenchanted cosmos leaves people enslaved to nihilistic whim and blind fate. He shows that the antiquated notion of obedience to the moral law contains forgotten dimensions which can be a liberating source of freedom from these contemporary fetters. These dimensions of obedience - like loyalty, deference, discipline, and order - protect people from falling prey to the subtle forms of coercion, control, and domination of 21st century life.

Fusing radical histories and literary insights, with philosophical discussion and cultural critique, Phillips demonstrates that only the obedient person can truly be free, and that in obedience lies the path to true freedom.