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Social Contract 葉隠 HAGAKURE For the most part, we admire our own opinions and grow fond of arguing. 1 SYDE261 - W2011 The Social Contract 2 Relevant Readings The Social Contract http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract 3 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT So how do we all get along? Some options are (but not limited to): - make laws and rules that we agree to (sometimes there is no formal agreement) - build fences and borders to keep people we don’t like out - publish books telling others what we think is important - have meetings where we discuss values - vote on who is in charge and gets to make rules - have police and courts to punish people who do “bad” things (but who defines bad?) 4 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT Social Contract - a pretty good definition from Wikipedia: The notion of the social contract implies that the people give up sovereignty to a government or other authority in order to receive or maintain social order through the rule of law. It can also be thought of as an agreement by the governed on a set of rules by which they are governed. [Wikipedia] Give up sovereignty Receive social order through rule of law Agreement on the rules by those affected by the rules! 5 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT Nihilism Socialism Taoism Republic Anarchy Christianity Islam Fascism Communism Democracy Capitalism Hagakure - the Way of the Samurai There are clearly several different opinions on how we establish the rules of our society! 6 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT HOBBES - LEVIATHAN According to Thomas Hobbes, human life would be "nasty, brutish, and short" without political authority. In its absence, we would live in a state of nature, where each person has unlimited natural freedoms, including the "right to all things" and thus the freedom to harm all who threaten our own self-preservation; there would be an endless "war of all against all" (Bellum omnium contra omnes). To avoid this, free men establish political community i.e. civil society through a social contract in which each gains civil rights in return for subjecting himself to civil law or to political authority. [Wikipedia] - first published contract theory Without political authority life is: Hobbes NASTY BRUTISH SHORT 7 LOCKE - Second Treatise of Government John Locke's conception of the social contract differed from Hobbes' in several ways, but retained the central notion that persons in a state of nature would willingly come together to form a state. Locke believed that individuals in a state of nature would have stronger moral limits on their action than accepted by Hobbes, but recognized that people would still live in fear of one another. Locke argued that individuals would agree to form a state that would provide a "neutral judge", and that could therefore protect the lives, liberty, and property of those who lived within it. While Hobbes argued for near-absolute authority, Locke argued in his Second Treatise of Government that laws could only be legitimate if they sought to achieve the common good. Locke also believed that people will do the right thing as a group, and that all people have natural rights. [Wikipedia] - people would come together to form a state - not as pessimistic as Hobbes about humans in a state of nature, but still believes we would live in fear of one another - laws should achieve the common good - people will do the “right thing” as a group - all people have natural rights 8 Rousseau - The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), in his influential 1762 treatise The Social Contract, outlined a different version of social contract theory, based on popular sovereignty. Although Rousseau wrote that the British were perhaps at the time the freest people on earth, he did not approve of their representative government. Rousseau believed that liberty was possible only where there was direct rule by the people as a whole in lawmaking, where popular sovereignty was indivisible and inalienable. Citizens must, in at least some circumstances, be able to choose together the fundamental rules by which they would live, and be able to revise those rules on later occasions if they choose to do so - something the British people as a whole were unable to do. Rousseau's political theory has some points in common with Locke's individualism, but departs from it in his development of the "luminous conception" (which he credited to Diderot) of the general will. Rousseau argues a citizen can be an egoist and decide that his personal interest should override the collective interest. However, as part of a collective body, the individual citizen puts aside his egoism to create a "general will", which is popular sovereignty itself. Popular sovereignty (i.e., the rule of law), thus decides what is good for society as a whole, and the individual (including the administrative head of state, who could be a monarch) must bow to it, or be forced to bow to it: [The social contract] can be reduced to the following terms: Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will; and in a body we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.[2] [Wikipedia] - differs from previous work by emphasizing the general will - even the highest individual (like a king), must adhere to it - addresses the manipulation of the law by the powerful and wealthy - influenced the French Revolution and Republicism 9 Morality is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong). A moral code is a system of morality (for example, according to a particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.) and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code. Immorality is the active opposition to morality, while amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any set of moral standards or principles.[1][2][3][4] [Wikipedia] Ethics also known as moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice, etc. [Wikipedia] 10 Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. Rights are of essential importance in such disciplines as law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology. [Wikipedia] Duties is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action [citation needed] and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person commits himself/herself to the cause involved without considering the self- interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously. [Wikipedia] 11 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT THE GREEKS - the big three Socrates - 469-399 BC Socrates - Plato’s teacher and a founder of Western philosophy Plato - 428-348 BC - universals exist apart from the particular - Beauty, Goodness, iPadness exist as ideal Forms in a metaphysical realm Aristotle - 384-322 BC - found the universal in the particular - Beauty exists in the beautiful object, not in some other Form 12 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT Plato in his book The Republic divided governments into four basic types: ■ democracy: government by the many ■ oligarchy: government by the few (often called aristocracy, i.e. government by the best) ■ timocracy: government by socio-military complexes (as in Sparta) ■ monarchy/tyranny: government by one He found flaws with all of them and thus concluded that none were suitable systems of government. Aristotle largely embraced Plato's ideas and in his Politics three types (excluding timocracy) are discussed in detail. Aristotle considers aristocracy the ideal form of government, but he observes that none of the three are healthy and that states will cycle between the three forms in an abrupt and chaotic process known as the kyklos. In his Politics he lists a number of theories of how to create a Plato stable government. One of these options is creating a government that is a mix of all three forms of government. [Wikipedia] 13 Aristocracy (from Greek ἄριστος aristos "excellent," and κράτος kratos "power"), is a form of government in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. The term was derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best".[1] See Aristocracy (class) for the historical roots of the term. The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of prominent citizens was commonly used and contrasted with monarchy, in which an individual king held the power. The Ancient Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.[2] In Rome, The Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. The Republic ended with the death of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC. Later, Aristotle aristocracies primarily consisted of an elite aristocratic class, privileged by birth and often wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold some form of political power. However this distinction is oversimplified. Wealth also accumulates among the few in democracies, while aristocrats are often short of money[citation needed]. 14 [Wikipedia] Utilitarianism Utilitarianism (also: utilism) is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its usefulness in maximizing utility or minimizing negative utility (utility can be defined as pleasure, preference satisfaction, knowledge or other things) as summed among all sentient beings.
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