Homework answers / question archive / Social contract theorists say that morality consists of a set of rules governing how people should treat one another that rational beings will agree to accept for their mutual benefit on the condition that others agree to follow these rules as well

Social contract theorists say that morality consists of a set of rules governing how people should treat one another that rational beings will agree to accept for their mutual benefit on the condition that others agree to follow these rules as well

Sociology

Share With

---

Social contract theorists say that morality consists of a set of rules governing how people should treat one another that rational beings will agree to accept for their mutual benefit on the condition that others agree to follow these rules as well.

Thomas Hobbes looked to the distant past to observe a primitive "state of nature" in which there was no such thing as morality. He found that this self-interested way of being was "nasty, brutish, and short," that is, a perpetual state of warfare. He outlined the civilized solution to this problem in the form of a logical syllogism.

1. We are all self-interested.
2. Each of us needs to have a peaceful and cooperative social order to pursue our interests.
3. We need moral rules in order to establish and maintain a cooperative social order.

Therefore, self-interest motivates us to establish moral rules.

John Locke disagreed. He refuted Hobbes' claim that early civilizations were always "at war" by pointing to historical examples of people in that "state of nature" and praising their efforts to maintain both their individuality and a fair society. 

Locke set forth the view that the state exists to preserve the natural rights of its citizens. He found that when governments fail in that task, citizens have the right and sometimes the duty to withdraw their support and even to rebel.

 

So, which philosophy is most like your own? Is human nature animalistic or noble? How can you tell?