Discover what is the CONTRACTUALIST theory

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In this lesson from a TEACHER we explain what is contractual theory and who are your main managers. Contractualism is a modern current of political and legal philosophy, which offers an explanation of the State and society, based on an original contract or pact between human beings, by means of which, they give up part of their freedoms, in exchange for security. Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Rawls or Habermas, are the maximum defenders of the contractual theory, and have influenced, in some way, the current structure of democratic states, especially in the American war of independence and in the French. If you want to know more about contract theory, continue reading this lesson. Start the class!

Index

1. Contractual theory: simple definition
2. Contractual theory: causes and consequences
3. Main representatives of the contractual theory
4. The contemporary contractualism of Rawls and Habermas

The contractualism

But the societymodern, brings with it a series of changes political and social that lead to the greatest crisis experienced in the West so far.

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The contractualism, was the response to a situation of domination by the canpolitical, until the century XVII, unlimited and justified by the assumption that the power of the King, came from God, and human beings, who live in society according to rules, are nothing more than their minions. Aristotle himself defended that slaves are slaves by nature.

But the societymodern, brings with it a series of changes political and social that lead to the greatest crisis experienced in the West so far.

Causes of contractualism

• In Europe, collapses the OldorRegime, which was characterized by being a political and social system in which power was divided into different dependency relationships. The servant obeyed the lord, in exchange for protection, and everyone obeyed the king.
• A new social class appears, the bourgeoisie, independent, politically and economically, that reveals itself, and demands social changes. The French Revolution 1789 is an example.
• Changes in European societies extend to the continent American, which demands its independence. We have an example in thewarof the independence of the USA in the year 1775.
• There is, at the same time, a progressive lost (but not total) of religious power, which has less and less influence in the political arena. Nobody believes that the King is by the grace of God, and therefore, it is necessary to offer another theory that justifies the power of the government, its origin and its legitimacy.
• The Illustration, brings with it new values ​​of emancipation and personal autonomy and there is a strong conviction that knowledge, the power of reason, can end all the evils that attack society.
• The revolutionscientific, the revolutionindustrial and all the changes political and social, cause the fall of the Old Regime, and the citizen, replaces the subject. The citizen, unlike the servant, is a human being endowed with reason and possessor of certain rights, such as moral autonomy, the motto of the enlightened movement, or political emancipation.

Consequences of the contractual theory

As a consequence of social changes, a political crisis, unknown until now, although each country felt it with different intensity, and not all ended in a revolution. But the reality is that the European and American political regimes changed, leaving the contractual theory, as the only substitute for the Old Regime, already collapsed.

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• Thomas Hobbes it lays the foundations of contract theory in an attempt to defend monarchical absolutism, but was unknowingly causing its downfall. The Leviathan, his masterpiece, Hobbes takes us to an imaginary state of nature in which human beings live free and equal. But since they are equally powerful, the consequence is the “war of all against all"Or in his own words, "Bellum omnium contra omnes", which is perfectly summed up in the phrase: "Man is a wolf to man” or in latin "Homo homini lupus". Thus, in exchange for security, the State arises, from a pact by which the human being gives part of his rights for protection.
• John Locke, in their Two Treatises on Civil Government, he defends the existence of an original state in which human beings enjoyed certainnatural rights:, such as the right to life, liberty and propertyBut, in the absence of a government, these rights are totally unprotected. Therefore, to ensure that all human beings can live in peace, they give up part of their rights to the sovereign, and in return, the sovereign must comply with the agreement, otherwise, his power will be revoked.
• In order to Rousseau (The social contract), who has a more naive vision, the human being is good by nature, and in that original state, he lives in peace and harmony with the rest of the human beings. It is precisely the appearance of the State that corrupts it. The solution of this thinker is the Assembly. Every citizen must submit to the general will, at the will of all, in a defense of the direct democracy.

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The contractualismcontemporary, influenced by Kant, puts its focus on the shape of the contract, and not in its content, that is, of the internal logic that enables decision-making.

• Rawls for example, he talks about the ideal position of the parties to the contract, or what he calls, “a veil of ignorance ". From here, the contractor does not know the position he occupies after the agreement, which favors making fair decisions.
• In order to Habermas, would be the "ideal dialogue conditions”Social communication, and therefore fundamental for political and social communication, and would be the necessary conditions for the pact, namely: non-violence, equality, seriousness.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is contractual theory, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

Rousseau, J.J. The Social Contract. Editorial Tecnos, 1988

Locke, J. Two Treaties on Civil Government. Ed. Alliance. 2015

Hobbes, T. Leviathan or The Matter, Form and Power of an Ecclesiastical And Civil State. Ed. Alliance. 1999.