Social contract theory is a philosophy that supports the view that a person’s moral obligations are reliant on an agreement or contract to form a society setting where the individual lives in. The framework was developed by Thomas Hobbes, with the assistance of Jean-Jacues and John Locke in 1762. The model posits that people have either tacitly or explicitly surrendered their latitudes and submission to the society in exchange for social order maintenance and protection of rights ( Moehler, 2018) . According to the theory, people are usually born into an anarchic type of environment which can either be unhappy or happy nature. The society as the model states is formed by exercising natural reason by means of contract between the government and the people. The theory asserts that morality consists of a series of behaviour governing rules that rational people give consent to on the condition that others also accept them. As the theory explains, the anarchy state of nature makes life either short, brutish, poor or nasty because of human condition features such as limited altruism, equality of need, scarcity and human power essential equality.
One example of social contract theory is on traffic laws where users agree to drive on a certain lane of the road and observe the traffic lights. Users follow such laws out of social contract reasons. A second example is an interaction between X-ray machines and searches at the airports. In such an instance, individuals who have purchased tickets have a right to board airplane without hindrance. However, since the government want to ensure that air travel is safe, everyone including the flight crew must give up their personal liberty to allow luggage and body searches.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In my view, Social Contract theory is imperative in law enforcement over a population. I believe that social order would be hard to attain if the principles of social contract do not apply in a society. Through social contract theory, families, values, marriages, competition and customs seamlessly work together.
References
Moehler, M. (2018). Minimal morality: A multilevel social contract theory . Oxford University Press.
