Download Natural Rights and the Social Contract

The Origins of the State
and
Social Contract Theory
What is the State?
• A political community that
– occupies a definite territory, and
– Has an organized system of government with
the power to make and enforce laws
Today: State = Country = Nation
Where did the State come from?
• Evolution Theory - Right to rule evolved
from traditional family roles
• Force Theory - Right to rule is obtained
through force and physical domination
• Divine Right Theory - The right to rule
comes from God
• Social Contract Theory - The right to rule
come from the consent of the People
The Enlightenment
• The Enlightenment - an intellectual movement that
started in France and spread around Europe and to the
Americas;
– Began as a reaction to absolute monarchy;
– Philosophers argued for social equality and individual
liberty.
– People began to believe they had rights and were important
as individual human beings
• The Enlightenment gives birth to the ideology of
“Classical Liberalism”
Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679)
• Political philosopher who first
developed the idea of the social
contract (Leviathan):
– In a “state of nature,” all
individuals are equal
– Life is unbearable, “solitary, poor,
nasty, brutish and short.”
– People enter into a social contract
whereby they grant absolute
authority to a sovereign ruler in
order to obtain security;
– No right to rebel
John Locke (1632 - 1704)
• Expanded on social contract
theory;
– Second Treatise on Government
• According to John Locke:
– Life is very difficult in a state of
nature;
– All people are equal b/c they are all
born with certain natural rights
• life, liberty and property
– Those rights are not protected in a
state of nature.
– People consent to form a
government in order to protect their
natural rights.
THINK ABOUT IT!!
• What is a contract?
– A contract is a promise made between two or more
parties to exchange something of value.
– Quid Pro Quo: “Something for Something”
• What is the social contract?
– People consent to be ruled by the government.
– The Government promises to protect the rights of
the people (life, liberty and property).
– The people have the right to rebel if the
government breaks the social contract.
America’s Social Contract
• The Declaration of Independence - Britain
has broken the social contract with the
colonists. Therefore, the colonists have the
right to rebel.
• The Constitution - Our new social contract
with the government.