SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORIES
Key Concepts:
The State of Nature
The Social Contract
The Sovereign
DESIGNING MY OWN
SOCIETY
 If you could redesign society from scratch, what would
it look like?

 How would you distribute wealth and power?

 Would you make everyone equal or not? How would

you define fairness and equality?

 And — here’s the kicker — what if you had to make

those decisions without knowing who you would be in
this new society?
CREATING YOUR OWN
SOCIETY
 What type of government would exist?
 How wealth would be earned or
distributed?
 What would education be like?
 What would the environment would be
like?
 What else would your perfect society
have?
 RIDDLER’S MOMENT
 A father and son went in their car for a road
trip. They got in a car crash. The father died,
and the son was badly injured. He needed
surgery, but in the hospital when the doctor
comes in, the doctor says, "I can't operate on
this boy, he's my son." Who's the doctor?
 I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw
me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence
of all, To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.
What am I?
 I give you a group of three. One is sitting
down, and will never get up. The second
eats as much as is given to him, yet is
always hungry. The third goes away and
never returns.
Answer: Stove, fire, smoke
If you break me, I do not stop working,
If you touch me, I may be snared, If you
lose me ,Nothing will matter. What am I?
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How did Enlightenment

writers and thinkers set
the stage for
revolutionary
movements?
 Key Concepts:

 The State of Nature: A pre-social condition.

 The Social Contract: An agreement between
(a) members of the community or
 (b) members of the community and the
Sovereign.
 The Sovereign: The legitimate head of state
after the Social Contract: (a) a person or group
of persons, such as a monarch or a
government, or (b) the people representing
themselves.
KEY PLAYERS IN SOCIAL
CONTRACT THEORY
 Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679): Argues
in favor of absolute
monarchy.
 John Locke (1632-
1704): Argues in
favor of
representational
democracy. Anti-
royalist.
KEY PLAYERS IN SOCIAL
CONTRACT THEORY
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712-1778): Argues in
favor of direct
democracy.
 Immanuel Kant (1724-
1804): Argues in favor of
a representational
system, but lead by a
monarch/government
with the people’s interest
at heart.
KEY PLAYERS IN SOCIAL
CONTRACT THEORY

 John Rawls (1921-

2002): Argues in
favor of an imaginary
social contract within
a democracy, an
“Original Position.”
 VIEWS ON HUMAN
NATURE
 Hobbes: Humans are selfish by nature and must
be controlled.
 Locke: Humans are rational by nature, and can
by-and-large control themselves.
 Rousseau: Humans are good and compassionate
by nature, but can be corrupted by civilization.
 Kant: Humans are selfish by nature, but can
control themselves through rational, universalized
thinking.
 Rawls: Humans are selfish by nature, and the
Social Contract must be made attractive by
appealing to everyone’s self-interest.
VIEWS ON THE STATE OF
NATURE:
 Hobbes: The State of Nature is a dangerous place, and “life of
man “ is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

 Locke: The State of Nature exists any time humans haven’t

entered into an agreement with each other to participate in a
government. Even so, it is not chaotic because of human
rationality, and the three natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

 Rousseau: The State of Nature is a wonderful, rich environment

for early humans living solitary peaceful lives.

 Kant: The State of Nature is a fiction; the Social Contract is a

rational, moral concept limiting the powers of the sovereign.
States are in a State of Nature vis-à-vis each other.

 Rawls: The State of Nature is a fantasy, but we can use it to

imagine creating a fair society.
 THE SOVEREIGN
 Hobbes: The absolute monarch (king or
queen)
 Locke: The people (all adult males) electing a
government in democratic elections
 Rousseau: The people vote on all matters; the
people are the Sovereign
 Kant: The monarch/government accepting the
rational limitations of legislative power,
governing for the people.
 Rawls: Modern Republican form of
government.
 EFFECTS OF THE SOCIAL
CONTRACT
 Hobbes: People will live in peace but without rights
except for the right to self-defense
 Locke: The three natural rights which exist in the State
of Nature will be easier to enforce by the government.
Those who have given express consent will be bound
by the contract; those who have given tacit consent
can opt out and leave.
 Rousseau: Life will be fair for all if we employ the
general will and set aside our personal interests.
 Kant: The people will be fairly represented by the
Sovereign without actually having to participate.
 Rawls: We will have decided on a system that is fair
for everyone, using the “Veil of Ignorance.”
 How did Enlightenment writers and
thinkers set the stage for revolutionary
movements?
 Philosophes encouraged people to
judge for themselves what they
thought was right or wrong
 People began to rely on reason to
solve their social problems
 These ideas led to violent revolutions
in America & France to overthrow
“corrupt kings”
 Thomas Jefferson
The American Revolution &
Declaration of Independence inspired
people around the world t overthrow
theirwrote
 Jefferson gov’tthe
& form democracy
Declaration of
Independence (1776) & based it
heavily on John Locke’s ideas
 The Declaration explained the
reasons for the American Revolution
& the that the US gov’t would be
based on human liberty & democracy
 Think about each of the following Enlightenment
philosophes & identify one way each of them
would try to improve some aspect of Health
Care in the Philippines.
 Thomas Hobbes

 John Locke

 Voltaire

 Montesquieu

 Rousseau