Social contract

after wrong has been done” (Jurik, 2015a, p. 13). Current Theories in Justice Studies The first prevailing theories to be discussed are the Modern Social Contract Theory and Justice Theory of modern philosopher, John Rawls. In general, the premise of Rawls’ theories rest in his view that citizens in a society are participants in a “social contract”, where citizenship equates to consent, and that justice is the “rational choice to organize society, and must be

Giorgio Agamben’s book Homo Sacer begins by addressing the topics of bare life and meaningful socially contextualized life in relation to the philosophical terms of zoē and bios respectively. Agamben toys with the idea that sovereignty naturally coincides with bios, whereas zoē is only “included in politics in the form of exception.” (Agamben 10) This assertion runs parralel to the idea of atavism, which is essentially the principle that humans can often revert to primal and ancestral behaviors when

his country was at war for nearly a decade. (Great Philosophers) Hobbes made many philosophical contributions, many of which can best be seen in his book titled Leviathan. In it he targets the social contract theory and reasons that society will sustain under complete submission to authority. The Social Contract theory stated that the right

Thomas Hobbes’ book, Leviathan and Henry David Thoreau’s essay, Resistance to Civil Government could not be more opposed when it comes to looking at the social contract from a political philosophy viewpoint. On the one hand, Hobbes maintains that humanity’s utmost obligation is to submit oneself to the authority of the sovereign state. Thoreau, on the other hand, argues that under specific circumstances, it is humanity’s duty is to resist the state. This paper will argue that Hobbes does not succeed

themselves personally. He uses the notion of pure procedural justice as a basis for his theory. His intent with the original position is to describe an agreement that is fair among all the parties to a hypothetical social contract. He assumes that if the people who are developing the social contract approach it fairly, free of bias and predisposition, then the principles that they would agree to would be as fair as possible. The two principles of justice that Rawls uses in his original position are intended

cover of his masterpiece, Leviathan 1651, summed up the gist of his theory by identifying all the important components of a modern society, namely atomistic individuality and all-powerful sovereign. Hobbes insisted that human beings were not naturally social, and that politics and the state were artificially created, a product of convention and deliberate human action. Hobbes’

which will be subsequently discussed in detail. Rawls’ idea of justice seeks to explain the significance, in a society assumed to be devoid of social inequalities, of political and personal liberties, of equal opportunity and cooperative arrangements that benefit the more and the less advantaged members of society. Justice is the first virtue of social institutions and every person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. In a just

According to each thinker, peace has important significance in each text. Machiavelli believed that, “a ruler must think only of military matters, and in time of peace he should be even more occupied with them than in times of war” (The Prince, 46). Furthermore, “he will never relax during peacetime, but will always be working to take advantage of the opportunities peace presents, so he will be fully prepared when adversity comes. When his luck changes, he must be ready to fight back” (The Prince

Hobbes’s time period; this is evident in social relationships and the characteristics of human beings in each state. In feudal society the notion of equality was not present and was class based, meaning there was a social hierarchy (Weinstein, 2015) , this is rather different to Hobbes who described the state of nature as a complete free and equal system. In feudal society there is a mutual cooperation and obligation in the system making it a direct social relationship among individuals which portrays

In this essay I will discuss Glaucon’s defence of injustice, which he presents to Socrates in book 11 of Plato’s The Republic. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on the overriding theme in Glaucon’s argument; that we are only just for the sake of consequences and will conclude by agreeing with this notion. Glaucon, dissatisfied with previous appraisals of justice, seeks to challenge Socrates by strengthening Thrasymachus’ defence of injustice in book 1. ‘This is exactly what he gives us