School
Social contract theory
Social contract theory holds that political authority and moral rules are justified by what free and equal people would agree to.
Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan (1651), argued that people would accept an absolute sovereign to escape a war of all against all; John Locke grounded limited government in consent and natural rights; and Jean-Jacques Rousseau sought the general will. In the twentieth century John Rawls revived the idea with the original position, David Gauthier derived morality from rational bargaining, and T. M. Scanlon developed contractualism. On this site it answers questions on contract-based ethics (3.2.4), sovereignty and the state (6.4.3) and political philosophy.
Thinkers of this school
- Thomas Hobbes1588 – 1679
- John Rawls1921 – 2002
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712 – 1778
- David Gauthier1932 – 2023
- T. M. Scanlonb. 1940
Guide: Schools of Philosophy: The Main -isms and the Questions They Answer
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How is Scanlon’s ‘reasonable rejection’ test different from asking what most people would agree to?
We read a chapter of Scanlon's What We Owe to Each Other (1998) in my ethics tutorial this week, and it left me with more questions than answers. The idea, roughly, is that an act is wrong if it would be disallowed…
Started by Ethan Mercer4 replies -
If consent of the governed is the newcomer, what did legitimacy rest on before it?
My students are learning about government this term. I showed them a comparative table of answers to the question "how should we be governed?" across many traditions: Greek, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, European. The thing that surprised them most was that only the…
Started by Aroha Tipene5 replies -
I never agreed to obey the state. Why do I owe it anything?
This week's lecture was on the social contract, and since then one thought keeps coming back while I sit in traffic. I never signed anything. I was born here, like my parents. Nobody asked me if I agreed to the laws, the…
Started by Serkan Aydoğdu4 replies -
Why did Hobbes think sovereignty could not be divided?
I have no formal background in politics, so this is train reading. I've been going through a history of the English Civil War and then dipped into Leviathan, and I'm puzzled. Everything I learned at school says separation of powers is obviously…
Started by Siobhán Keane4 replies -
Who is left out when morality is a bargain?
I came to this question with a personal stake. I've used a wheelchair since I was fourteen. The Hobbesian strand of contract theory says morality is what rational, self-interested people would agree to for mutual advantage. David Gauthier's Morals by Agreement (1986)…
Started by Dima Nasser5 replies