The social contract was introduced by early modern thinkers—
Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf, and John Locke
the most well-known among them—as an account of two things: the historical origins of sovereign power and the moral origins of the principles that make sovereign power just and/or legitimate.
Although similar ideas can be traced to the Greek Sophists, social-contract theories had their greatest currency in the 17th and 18th centuries and are associated with the
English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke
and the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The relation between natural and legal rights is often a topic of social contract theory. The term takes its name from The Social Contract (French: Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique), a 1762 book by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
that discussed this concept.
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.
Hobbes is famous for his early and elaborate development of what has come to be known as “social contract theory”,
the method of justifying political principles or arrangements by appeal to the agreement that would be made among suitably situated rational, free, and equal persons
.
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’s central argument in The Social Contract is
that government attains its right to exist and to govern by “the consent of the governed
.” Today this may not seem too extreme an idea, but it was a radical position when The Social Contract was published.
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 …
(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).
- to respect. to be polite and considerate of.
- encouragement. the action of giving someone support and hope.
- integrity. honesty from within yourself.
- dignity. self-respect; sense of worth.
- leadership. ability to lead or guide.
- communication. …
- to be wise. …
- accountability.
The parties are described as (1) motivated by self-interest, in as much as they will only agree to the contract if they perceive that they will benefit from social interaction; (2) concerned for the welfare of others, if only because they recognize that the advantages they expect to derive from the social contract will …
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.
Proponents of social contract theory argue that many theorists
create frameworks that are fairer than current society
. The fairness comes from the fact that all people under a social contract framework would work toward a society where they or others would not be harmed from gross inequality.
What were Thomas Hobbes main ideas?
Despite advocating the idea of absolutism of the sovereign, Hobbes developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought:
the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men
; the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the …
What is the Leviathan according to Hobbes?
political philosophy
“Leviathan,” comes into being
when its individual members renounce their powers to execute the laws of nature
, each for himself, and promise to turn these powers over to the sovereign—which is created as a result of this act—and to obey thenceforth the laws made by… In political philosophy: Hobbes.
Social Contract Theory.
The authority to rule is granted to the government by the people who make a contract with the government
. Each side has obligations which must be met for the contract to be valid. Thomas Hobbes.
