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James Rachels-The Social Contract Theory Confirming Pages T he Elements of Moral Philosophy SEVENTH EDITION James Rachels Editions 5–7 by Stuart Rachels rac38243_fm_i-xii.indd i 10/27/11 7:07 PM Confirming Pages THE ELEMENTS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY, SEVENTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2010, 2007, and 2003. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 DOC/ DOC 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN 978-0-07-803824-2 MHID 0-07-803824-3 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President & Director of Specialized Publishing: Janice M. Roerig-Blong Sponsoring Editor: Jessica Cannavo Marketing Coordinator: Angela R. FitzPatrick Project Manager: Jolynn Kilburg Design Coordinator: Margarite Reynolds Buyer: Louis Swaim Media Project Manager: Sridevi Palani Compositor: Laserwords Private Limited Typeface: 11/12 New Baskerville Printer: R. R. Donnelley Cover painting: Aleksandr Rodchenko. (Russian, 1891–1956). Non-Objective Painting no. 80 (Black on Black). 1918. Oil on canvas, 32 1/4 3 31 1/4” (81.9 3 79.4 cm). Gift of the artist, through Jay Leyda. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Digital Image © 2006 The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by Scala/Art Resource, NY. © Alexander Rodchenko/RAO, Moscow/ VAGA, New York All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rachels, Stuart, 1969– The elements of moral philosophy/James Rachels.—7th ed. by Stuart Rachels. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-07-803824-2 (alk. paper) 1. Ethics—Textbooks. I. Rachels, James, 1941–2003. Elements of moral philosophy. II. Title. BJ1012.R29 2013 170—dc23 2011042104 www.mhhe.com rac38243_fm_i-xii.indd ii 10/27/11 7:07 PM Confirming Pages CHAPTER 6 The Social Contract Theory Wherever law ends, tyranny begins . John Locke, THE SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT (1690) 6.1. Hobbes’s Argument Suppose we take away all the traditional props for morality. Assume, first, that there is no God to issue commands and reward virtue. Next, suppose that there are no “natural purposes”— objects in nature have no inherent functions or intended uses. Finally, assume that human beings are naturally selfish. Where, then, could morality come from? If we cannot appeal to God, natu- ral purpose, or altruism, is there anything left to base morality on? Thomas Hobbes, the leading British philosopher of the 17th century, tried to show that morality does not depend on any of those things. Instead, morality should be understood as the solution to a practical problem that arises for self-interested human beings. We all want to live as well as possible; but in order to flourish, we need a peaceful, cooperative social order. And we cannot have one without rules. Those rules are the moral rules; morality consists of the precepts we need to follow in order to get the benefits of social living. That—not God, inherent pur- poses, or altruism—is the key to understanding ethics. Hobbes begins by asking what it would be like if there were no way to enforce social rules. Suppose there were no gov- ernment institutions—no laws, no police, and no courts. In this situation, each of us would be free to do as we pleased. Hobbes called this “the state of nature.” What would it be like? Hobbes thought it would be dreadful. In the state of nature, he says, there would be no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of 82 rac38243_ch06_082-097.indd 82 10/24/11 10:19 PM Confirming Pages THE SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY 83 the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. The state of nature would be awful, Hobbes thought, due to four basic facts about human life: • There is equality of need. Each of us needs the same basic things in order to survive—food, clothing, shelter, and so on. Although we may differ in some of our needs (diabetics need insulin, others don’t), we are all essen- tially alike. • There is scarcity. We do not live in the Garden of Eden, where milk flows in streams and every tree hangs heavy with fruit. The world is a hard, inhospitable place, where the things we need do not come in abundance. We have to work hard to produce them, and even then they may be in short supply. • There is the essential equality of human power. Who will get the scarce goods? No one can simply take what she wants. Even though some people are smarter and tougher than others, even the strongest can be brought down when those who are less strong act together. • Finally, there is limited altruism. If we cannot prevail by our own strength, what hope do we have? Can we rely on the goodwill of others? We cannot. Even if people are not wholly selfish, they care most about themselves, and we cannot assume that they will step aside when their interests conflict with ours. Together, these facts paint a grim picture. We all need the same basic things, and there aren’t enough of them to go around. Therefore, we will have to compete for them. But no one can prevail in this competition, and no one—or almost no one—will look after the needs of his neighbors. The result, as Hobbes puts it, is a “constant state of war, of one with all.” And it is a war no one can win. Whoever wants to survive will try to seize what he needs and prepare to defend it from attack. rac38243_ch06_082-097.indd 83 10/24/11 10:19 PM Confirming Pages 84 THE ELEMENTS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY Meanwhile, others will be doing the same thing. Life in the state of nature would be intolerable. Hobbes did not think this was mere speculation. He pointed out that this is what actually happens when govern- ments collapse during civil uprisings. People hoard food, arm themselves, and lock out their neighbors. Moreover, nations themselves behave like this when international law is weak. Without a strong, overarching authority to maintain the peace, countries guard their borders, build up their armies, and feed their own people first. To escape the state of nature, we must find a way to work together. In a stable and cooperative society, we can produce more essential goods and distribute them in a rational way. But establishing such a society is not easy. People must agree on rules to govern their interactions. They must agree, for exam- ple, not to harm one another and not to break their promises. Hobbes calls such an agreement “the social contract.” As a soci- ety, we follow certain rules, and we have ways to enforce them. Some of those ways involve the law—if you assault someone, the police may arrest you. Other ways involve “the court of pub- lic opinion”—if you get a reputation for lying, then people may turn their backs on you. All of these rules, taken together, form the social contract. It is only within the context of the social contract that we can become beneficent beings, because the contract creates the conditions under which we can afford to care about oth- ers. In the state of nature, it is every man for himself; it would be foolish for anyone to look out for others and put his own interests in jeopardy. But in society, altruism becomes possible. By releasing us from “the continual fear of violent death,” the social contract frees us to take heed of others. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) went so far as to say that we become different kinds of creatures when we enter civilized relations with others. In The Social Contract (1762), he writes: The passage from the state of nature to the civil state produces a very remarkable change in man. Then only, when the voice of duty takes the place of physi- cal impulses . does man, who so far had considered only himself, find that he is forced to act on different principles, and to consult his reason before listening to his inclinations. His faculties are so stimulated and rac38243_ch06_082-097.indd 84 10/24/11 10:19 PM Confirming Pages THE SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY 85 developed, . his feelings so ennobled, and his whole soul so uplifted, that, did not the abuses of this new condition often degrade him below that which he left, he would be bound to bless continually the happy moment which took him from it forever, and, instead of a stupid and unimagi- native animal, made him an intelligent being and a man.
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