| Title page of the first octavo edition | Author Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Original title Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit politique | Country France (edited in Amsterdam) | Language French |
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Social contract theory says that
people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior
. Some people believe that if we live according to a social contract, we can live morally by our own choice and not because a divine being requires it.
The social contract was introduced by early modern thinkers—
Hugo Grotius
For Rousseau, the only legitimate political authority is
the authority consented to by all the people
, who have agreed to such government by entering into a social contract for the sake of their mutual preservation. … Rousseau defines this general will as the collective need of all to provide for the common good of all.
In simple terms, Locke’s social contract theory says:
government was created through the consent of the people to be ruled by the majority
, “(unless they explicitly agree on some number greater than the majority),” and that every man once they are of age has the right to either continue under the government they were …
social contract, in political philosophy,
an actual or hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled or between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each
. … They then, by exercising natural reason, formed a society (and a government) by means of a social contract.
Social contract
attempts to evaluate and show the purpose and value of the organized government by comparing and contrasting the civil society and the state of nature
. It has played a role of identifying the useful government to the western communities and the best state of governance to hold.
| code of conduct rule of law | societal agreement societal rules |
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The social contract states that
“rational people” should believe in organized government
, and this ideology highly influenced the writers of the Declaration of Independence. that created it, or popular sovereignty. He believed that every citizen was equal in the view of the government.
Rousseau concluded that
the social contract was not a willing agreement
, as Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu had believed, but a fraud against the people committed by the rich. In 1762, Rousseau published his most important work on political theory, The Social Contract.
social contract.
the agreement by which people define and limit their individual rights
, thus creating an organized society or government. Natural Rights. the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property.
John Locke published a book, ‘Two Government Treatises’, in which he tried to refute the monarch’s doctrine of the supernatural and the absolute right.
Rousseau
took this idea even further suggested a system of government between the citizens and their members focuses on the social contract.
Social Contract. John Locke’s idea. It was
an agreement which had a purpose that the government is to protect the people’s natural rights in exchange for that protection
, the people give up their less important freedoms. You just studied 4 terms! 1/4.
(1) Hobbes’ sovereign is not a party to any contract and has no obligation to protect his citizens’ natural rights. (2) Locke has
two contracts (between citizens and citizens, and between citizens and the government)
in place of Hobbes’ single contract (between citizens to obey the sovereign).
What are John Locke’s 3 natural rights?
Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are “
life, liberty, and property
.” Locke believed that the most basic human law of nature is the preservation of mankind.
One kind of social contract is
a constitution
. A constitution says how decisions are made, and sets limits on the powers of leaders and other people who have authority. In the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote books about social contracts.
