Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The central assertion that social contract theory approaches is that law and political order are not natural, but human creations. The social contract and the political order it creates are simply the means towards an end—the benefit of the individuals involved—and legitimate only to the extent that they fulfill their part of the agreement.
Contractualism is a term in philosophy which refers either to a family of political theories in the social contract tradition (when used in this sense, the term is an umbrella term for all social contract theories that include contractarianism), [1] or to the ethical theory developed in recent years by T. M. Scanlon, especially in his book What We Owe to Each Other (published 1998).
In social psychology, distributive justice is defined as perceived fairness of how rewards and costs are shared by (distributed across) group members. [2] For example, when some workers work more hours but receive the same pay, group members may feel that distributive justice has not occurred.
Social rights are very similar to political rights, and it can be understood that they are effectively the same concepts being exercised in a less extreme way. [ 2 ] Cécile Fabre argues that "it is legitimate to constrain democratic majorities, by way of the constitution, to respect and promote those fundamental rights of ours that protect the ...
The Social Contract helped inspire political reforms or revolutions in Europe, especially in France. The Social Contract argued against the idea that monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate. Rousseau asserts that only the general will of the people has the right to legislate, for only under the general will can the people be said to obey ...
In Rawls's theory the original position plays the same role that the "state of nature" does in the social contract tradition of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. The original position figures prominently in Rawls's 1971 book, A Theory of Justice. It has influenced a variety of thinkers from a broad spectrum of philosophical orientations.
Such freely given consent constitutes a social contract, though the exact nature of such contracts is a matter of heated debate. [ 5 ] Some anarchist legal theorists hold that an ideal anarchist society should be based strictly on natural law and mutual aid , which require no social contract.
Some social contract theorists reasoned, however, that in the natural state only the strongest could benefit from their rights. Thus, people form an implicit social contract, ceding their natural rights to the authority to protect the people from abuse, and living henceforth under the legal rights of that authority [citation needed].