Question

Write two merits of Social Contract Theory (in 50 words)

Answer 1

In both moral and political philosophy, the social contract is a theory or model that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and usually concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual.

Social Contract Theory is the idea that society exists because of an implicitly agreed-to set of standards that provide moral and political rules of behavior. This video is part of Ethics Defined, an animated library of more than 50 ethics terms and concepts from Ethics Unwrapped

Hobbes defines contract as "the mutual transferring of right." In the state of nature, everyone has the right to everything - there are no limits to the right of natural liberty. The social contract is the agreement by which individuals mutually transfer their natural right.