The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls

First published in 2004. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT IN MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT? The concept of a social contract has been central to political thought since the seventeenth century. Contract theory has been used to justify political authority, to account for the origins of the state, and to provide foundations for moral values and the creation of a just society. In The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls, leading scholars from Britain and America survey the history of contractarian thought and the major debates in political theory which surround the notion of the social contract. The book examines the critical reception to the ideas of thinkers including Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel and Marx, and includes the more contemporary ideas of John Rawls and David Gauthier. It also incorporates discussions of international relations theory and feminist responses to contractarianism. Together, the essays provide a comprehensive introduction to theories and critiques of the social contract within a broad political theoretical framework.

Autorentext

David Boucher (University of Wales, Swansea), Paul Kelly (London School of Economics)

Zusammenfassung
First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Inhalt

List of contributors, Preface, 1. The social contract and its critics: an overview, 2. Hobbes's contractarianism: a comparative analysis, 3. John Locke: social contract versus political anthropology, 4. Locke's contract in context, 5. History, reason and experience: Hume's arguments against contract theories, 6. Rousseau, social contract and the modern Leviathan, 7. Kant on the social contract, 8. Hegel's critique of the theory of social contract, 9. Marx against the social contract, 10. Contractarianism and international political theory, 11. Women, gender and contract: feminist interpretations, 12. Gauthier's contractarian morality, 13. Justifying 'justice': rianism, communitarianism and the foundations of contemporary liberalism, 14. Economic justice: contractarianism and Rawls's difference principle, Index