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Card 3.2.4 · Root III — Ethics and Axiology

Contract-Based Approaches

Could you justify this to everyone it affects?

Contractualism holds that what makes an act right is its conformity to principles that people could agree to, under conditions that make the agreement meaningful.

From The Coordinates of Thought by Syed Raheel Shahzad, card 3.2.4, page 150

On this card
  1. Where it sits
  2. The rival answers
  3. Key figures
  4. Connections
  5. On Coordinates of Thought

Where it sits

Under 3.2 Normative ethics, alongside 3.2.1 consequence-based, 3.2.2 duty-based, 3.2.3 character-based. Feeds 6.4 Political philosophy.

The rival answers

PositionThe agreement isWith whomThe difficulty
Hobbesian contractarianismA bargain from self-interestAnyone able to harm or help youExcludes those who can do neither
Kantian contractualismPrinciples nobody could reasonably rejectAll affected parties"Reasonable" does moral work before the contract starts
RawlsianChosen behind a veil of ignoranceFree and equal citizensWhether the veil's constraints are neutral
ScanlonianJustifiable to each individual, one at a timeEach person separatelyBlocks aggregation, including where aggregation seems right
Global contractualismExtended past national bordersEveryone affected, anywhereNo institution corresponds to the agreement

Key figures

FigureDatesTraditionContribution
Thomas Hobbes1588–1679European modernAuthority from mutual self-interest
Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778European modernThe general will; the social contract as constitutive
Immanuel Kant1724–1804European modernThe kingdom of ends as a test of principles
John Rawls1921–2002AnalyticThe original position and the veil of ignorance
T. M. Scanlonb. 1940AnalyticWhat We Owe to Each Other; the individual-reasons restriction
David Gauthier1932–2023AnalyticMorals by agreement; rational bargaining

Connections

→ 3.2 · ↔ 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 6.4, 6.4.1 · ◇ contractarianism, contractualism, Rawlsian, Scanlonian · ○ Early modern; Modern; Contemporary; Table 4

→ narrower questions · ↔ questions it borders · ◇ the positions, mapped in Part III of the book · ○ the eras and comparison tables (Parts IV and V)

The full card is in the book

In The Coordinates of Thought this card goes on to a worked example that sets the answers against one case, and to where the question touches daily life — page 150.

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