Philosophy | What Is The Social Contract?
What is the social contract?
The social contract is the concept that human beings have made an agreement with their government, whereby the government and the people have distinct roles and responsibilities. The theory is based on the idea that humans abandoned a natural (free and ungoverned) condition in favor of a society that provides them with order, structure, and, very importantly, protection.
Through the ages many philosophers have considered the role of both government and citizens within the context of the social contract. According to English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), the social contract is directly tied to natural law (the theory that some laws are fundamental to human nature). Locke argued that people first lived in a state of nature, where they had no restrictions on their freedom. Realizing that conflict arose as each individual defended his or her own rights, people finally agreed to live under a...
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