Write 4–6 pages in which you assess a law in terms of the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Political philosophy is concerned with the formation and maintenance of civil societies. Its central theme is the need to explain the relationship between individual human beings and their governments.
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Write My Essay For MeBy successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
- Competency 1. Explain the nature of ethical issues.
- Explain the ethical basis for the relation of individuals to their government.
- Describe the social contract theories of Hobbes and Rousseau.
- Assess the advantages and disadvantages of differing approaches to political theory.
- Apply traditional social contract theories to contemporary political life.
- Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professional communities.
Competency Map
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Context
Why do we choose to join together, and what is the best way to organize ourselves for productive social life?
Political philosophers have often approached the issues by asking why and how we join together in the first place. Thinking about what life would be like without any government is one way to see what benefits we expect from its formation. Hobbes, for example, supposed that individual human beings, without the limitations provided by a civil society, would be concerned only with the promotion of their own self-interest, without any respect for other people. Accepting the authority of government, then, is a kind of self-defense, a way of protecting ourselves against the unbridled selfishness of our neighbors.
On this view, each of us voluntarily agrees to accept limitations on our own freedom so that everyone else will be subject to the same limitations. The provisions of this social contract make governmental authority legitimate and obligate each of us to obey. It would not be fair for a person to expect all others to hold up their part of the bargain while make an exception of himself or herself.
The problem with this approach is that it is not always clear when and how we signed up for the program. Sometimes we enter into explicit agreements, of course. As members of the learning community at Capella University, for example, we have all consented to have our interactions governed by the school’s policies. New citizens of a country may make a similar pledge as part of the naturalization process. Most of us, however, simply grow up somewhere, finding ourselves part of the civil society without ever having voluntarily chosen to enter it.
History provides us with several alternative ways of organizing a civil society.
In any form of government, we often find a distinction between the legislative power to establish laws by which people are to be governed and the executive power to enforce them. In modern social democracies, for example, constitutional government often devotes a great deal of attention to the separation and interaction of these powers. As individual citizens, we commonly place our confidence in selected leaders to govern with the interests of the entire society in mind.
But that brings us back to our initial question of the proper relationship between the society as a whole and each individual living in it. Suppose that we acknowledge that the welfare of the population at large must sometimes take precedence over private concerns, and that it is the proper function of the government to make sure that selfish individuals do not interfere with the public good. Even so, each of us would like to be free to pursue our own plans and ambitions within the framework of society as a whole.
Agreeing to participate in the civil society does not require that we give up all of our private interests. Mill (1859, pp. 91–92) and Rawls (1971, pp. 136–143) both argue that a well-organized society should preserve as much individual liberty as is compatible with the continued existence of the state. Justice requires that each of us be permitted to pursue our lives freely, unless doing so interferes with the freedom of our fellow citizens. This means that we can think and say whatever we want and do anything that will not harm someone else.
References
Mill, J. S. (1859). On liberty. London, GBR: Longman.
Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Questions to Consider
To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.
Resources
Suggested Resources
The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.
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Course Library Guide
A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the PHI-FP2000 – Ethics Library Guide to help direct your research.
Internet Resources
Access the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have been either granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the time of course publication.
- Hobbes’s Leviathan. The Philosophy Pages. Retrieved from http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/3x.htm#mech
- The Enlightenment: Continental. The Philosophy Pages. Retrieved from http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5d.htm#contr
- Contractarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractarianism/
- Hobbes’s moral and political philosophy. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes-moral/
- Jean Jacques Rousseau. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/
- John Rawls. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/
- Abortion and ethics. Retrieved from http://ethics.sandiego.edu/Applied/Abortion/index.asp
- Poverty and welfare. Retrieved from http://ethics.sandiego.edu/Applied/Poverty/index.asp
- Gender and ethical theory. Retrieved from http://ethics.sandiego.edu/theories/Gender/index.asp
Bookstore Resources
The resources listed below are relevant to the topics and assessments in this course and are not required. Unless noted otherwise, these materials are available for purchase from the Capella University Bookstore. When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course ID with the specific –FP (FlexPath) course designation.
- The elements of moral philosophy (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
- Chapter 6, “The Social Contract Theory.”
- Assessment Instructions
Many states require that drivers wear seat belts while operating their motor vehicles. This is not like forbidding the use of cell phones or intoxicants, which might impair the driver and endanger other people on the roads. The seat belt law imposes a governmental regulation that can, at most, be held to protect only the individual citizen whose behavior is being restricted. Why should the government be able to tell an individual what to do in the privacy of his or her own car?
Write a paper assessing the seat belt law, in terms of the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Support your assessment with research on their social contract theories. You may begin your research with suggested Resources, but you are also expected to conduct your own independent research into the scholarly and professional resources of the field.
Consider the following in your paper:
Additional Requirements
- Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- Include a title page and a references page, formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- A typical paper will include support from a minimum of 3–5 references. You may use some of the materials recommended in the Resources, but you should also include support from your independent research of scholarly or professional materials.
- A typical paper will be 4–6 typed, double-spaced pages in length.
- Times New Roman, 12-point.
Social and Political Ethics Scoring Guide
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Write 4–6 pages in which you assess a law in terms of the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
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SAMPLE SOLUTION
The social contract theory is founded on the concept that human beings once lived in a state of nature and there was no government. Law was also not available to govern human conducts during these old days. Oppressions and violations were the order of the day throughout this time as the strong, and not the law, had the final say regarding other people’s lives. During this era, anarchy and impunity was prevalent in the society. People had to invent ways to regulate human conduct in order to overcome the challenges associated with the rule of the jungle. Societies entered into agreements in which they delegated some of their sovereignty to the government. Upon the formation of the government, laws to regulate human conduct were enacted. Laws brought unity, cohesion respect and social order. Life and private property were protected from any threat or violation. Through the social…
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