Social Contract Theory

According to this theory “Morality consists in th

e set of rules governing behavior, that rationa
l people would accept, on the condition that
others accept them as well.”

Social contract or agreement by which men are

said to have abandoned the "state of nature"
to form the society in which they now live
 State-of
-Nature

short

Brutish poor
nasty
This is because of 4 features of the human co
ndition:

• equality of need
• scarcity
• the essential equality of human power
•   limited altruism
 Social Contract

An agreement, entered into by individuals, that

results in the formation of the state or of
organized society, the prime motive being the
desire for protection, which entails the surrender
of some or all personal liberties

Its a implicit agreement.

 Why Social Contract
• To eradicate the State of Nature
• To establish a society which obeys some rules
and Law
• To create a peaceful society
• To enhance social welfare.
• Protection of life and property.
• Protection of society against outside threats
 Philosophers
• Thomas Hobbes(1651)
• Jhon Locke(1689)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1762)
 According to Hobbes…..
• The seventeenth-century English philosopher,
Thomas Hobbes (1651), asked what underlyin
g agreement between people and sovereign wa
s necessary to avoid chaos and war.
 According to Locke & hobbes….
 The theory of such a contract, first formulated by the
English philosophers Thomas Hobbes (1651) and Jo
hn Locke, assumes that men at first lived in a state of
anarchy in which there was no society, no governmen
t, and no organized coercion of the individual by the
group.
• Locke made the social contract the basis of his advoc
acy of popular sovereignty, the idea that the monarch
or government must reflect the will of the people
 According to Rousseau…….
• The eighteenth-century French philosopher, Je
an Jacques Rousseau (1997), asked what und
erlying agreement would be likely to enhance
social welfare; and the eighteenth-century Eng
lish philosopher, John Locke (1948) asked wha
t agreement between state and citizenry was ne
cessary to protect liberty and property.
 Three Approaches of Social Contract

1. Hobbes advocated an authoritarian monarch

y
2. Locke advocated a liberal monarchy
3. Rousseau advocated liberal republicanism
THE END