The Social Contract

In the citation from Leviathan, Hobbes is describing the law of nature which in essence is a general rule that is discovered through reason. Furthermore, such a law asserts human self-preservation and censures acts destructive to human life. As opposed to, a civil law, which must be written down and issued in order to be known. A law of nature is inherently known by all because it can be deduced by innate mental capabilities (such as reason and philosophy). Hobbes illustrated the terrors within…

The social contract theory, as an ethical theory, requests all individuals live in society to implicitly reach an agreement to abide by moral rules established to govern relations among citizens while a government is capable of enforcing these rules. What’s more, these rules ought to be collectively agreed to accept by rational people for their mutual benefit. On the condition that others are supposed to follow these rules as well. Besides these rules, John Rawls’s Principles of Justice is also…

such as nature of the government and power were debated and even experimented. In the seventh century, England had two dominant viewpoints, which were best explained by the writing of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Locke and Hobbes were both social contract theorists and natural law theorists. The first model that was debated between Hobbes and Locke was the state of nature. Hobbes had a bit negative view about the state of nature. Hobbes believed that man is naturally selfish, self-interested…

o live in any society we must appreciate the necessity to engage with other people, whether this be in the state of nature, or in a governed society. In the former case, “every man has a right to every thing”, but by the same grain, to each others property and so each also has a right to nothing. To forgo this, we must create the latter, by the mutual exchanging or rights and liberties, creating what Arneson calls non excludable public good. I believe Arneson is right in claiming that this, in…

When the Founding Fathers wrote their articles they had a lot of major political ideas, which are political beliefs to make a fair life for everyone together possible with rights and laws. It is one 's political moral code and worldview. The most important major political idea are the laws of nature and nature’s God. You can find those in the Declaration of Independence. Those are the laws that began the founding of America. They are the decision from America to declare independence from…

human nature as well as their definition of a social contract that must exist between citizens and the government. A legitimate government requires that all citizens have political representation as well as having the right to speak freely. In addition, a legitimate government should have one or more elected officials to have authority over the government so it can run efficiently. Hobbes and Rousseau’s ideas about human nature and their social contracts are too polarized to lead to a legitimate…

A Look into Philosophy By Shannon Martin *Philosophy is difficult to define as there are so many levels involved in the art of philosophy. Philosophy is not the act of arguing against everything just for the sake of argument or disagreement. Philosophy is about seeking wisdom, enlightenment and viewing all areas of a subject. The word philosophy is broken down from its Greek origin as “the love or pursuit of wisdom”. “It is an activity that reflects passion, commitment, and…

the different concepts of the state of nature. Mankind was brought into this world in a state of nature (pre-social condition) and had to give up liberties for self-preservation under a ruled society for the sole survival of man, or to better themselves. When describing the beginning of civilization, it’s vital to understand the different interpretations of how mankind created social contracts to avoid the state of nature. Two definitions of the state of nature that are important to understand…

In this article, David Ellerman starts by clarifying that by classical liberalism he is referring to libertarianism, then he states that his goal is to question whether classical liberalism rules out a consent based non-democratic government, in which people have consented to alienate the rights of self-government to some sovereign. Ellerman starts by explaining what the classical liberal view means when referring to voluntary non-democratic governments, such as ‘free cities’ or ‘start-up…

human nature as innately good when it’s extracted from all social attachments and the immensely corrupting overall influence of society itself. Society, for Rousseau in his eyes is a grand impulse where the decencies of human beings are displayed. Rousseau 's political theories are derived from the seemingly simple idea of arranging humans into a social setting that’s bare of corrupting elements of society. Rousseau 's leap toward a social and political order of amour propre over amour de…