AJS 532: The Social Contract Of John Locke
The Social Contract of John Locke
AJS 532
Introduction
The concept of the social contract comes from Socrates, as described by Plato in Crito.
“Then the laws will say: ‘Consider, Socrates, if we are speaking truly that in your present attempt you are going to do us an injury. For, having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated you, and given you and every other citizen a share in every good which we had to give, we further proclaim to any Athenian by the liberty which we allow him, that if he does not like us when he has become of age and has seen the ways of the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his goods with him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him. Anyone who does …show more content…
They are: consent of the governed, natural law and constitutionalism, tacit consent and voluntarism.
Consent of the Governed
“Consent of the governed” is a phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. It is synonymous with a political theory wherein a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and legal when derived from the people or society over which the political power is exercised (Bookman, 1984). This theory of “consent” is historically contrasted to the divine right of kings and has often been invoked against the legitimacy of colonialism (Bookman, 1984). There are several types of consent: unanimous consent, hypothetical consent and overt versus tacit consent (Bookman, 1984). The details of each type of consent are not discussed in this project, but are mentioned so that the reader is aware that they …show more content…
Social contract is the convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. Under state of nature people live without government or written laws. People live under principles of justice that all normal people can see through reason, they include right to life, liberty and estates. Most people seek to follow these principles but the problem is lack of explicit written laws that leads to uncertainty and difficulty to resolve disputes (Nyamaka, 2011). Nyamaka (2011) discusses the solution to the problems under state of nature becomes a social contract where people agree to obey the state, let the state make and enforce laws and people pay the state for its services. The state sets up legislatures, impartial judges and enforcers. Within this agreement the government’s duty is to protect everyone’s rights and if the government violates the social contract, people may overthrow it (Nyamaka, 2011). There are two fundamental ideas that are expressed in the social contract in which the human mind always clings the value of liberty; the idea that “will” and not force is the basis of government; and the value of justice or the idea that “right” and not “might” is the basis of all political society and every system of political
AJS 532
Introduction
The concept of the social contract comes from Socrates, as described by Plato in Crito.
“Then the laws will say: ‘Consider, Socrates, if we are speaking truly that in your present attempt you are going to do us an injury. For, having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated you, and given you and every other citizen a share in every good which we had to give, we further proclaim to any Athenian by the liberty which we allow him, that if he does not like us when he has become of age and has seen the ways of the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his goods with him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him. Anyone who does …show more content…
They are: consent of the governed, natural law and constitutionalism, tacit consent and voluntarism.
Consent of the Governed
“Consent of the governed” is a phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. It is synonymous with a political theory wherein a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and legal when derived from the people or society over which the political power is exercised (Bookman, 1984). This theory of “consent” is historically contrasted to the divine right of kings and has often been invoked against the legitimacy of colonialism (Bookman, 1984). There are several types of consent: unanimous consent, hypothetical consent and overt versus tacit consent (Bookman, 1984). The details of each type of consent are not discussed in this project, but are mentioned so that the reader is aware that they …show more content…
Social contract is the convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. Under state of nature people live without government or written laws. People live under principles of justice that all normal people can see through reason, they include right to life, liberty and estates. Most people seek to follow these principles but the problem is lack of explicit written laws that leads to uncertainty and difficulty to resolve disputes (Nyamaka, 2011). Nyamaka (2011) discusses the solution to the problems under state of nature becomes a social contract where people agree to obey the state, let the state make and enforce laws and people pay the state for its services. The state sets up legislatures, impartial judges and enforcers. Within this agreement the government’s duty is to protect everyone’s rights and if the government violates the social contract, people may overthrow it (Nyamaka, 2011). There are two fundamental ideas that are expressed in the social contract in which the human mind always clings the value of liberty; the idea that “will” and not force is the basis of government; and the value of justice or the idea that “right” and not “might” is the basis of all political society and every system of political