Definitions for social contract
so·cial con·tract

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.8 / 4 votes

1. social contractnoun

   an implicit agreement among people that results in the organization of society; individual surrenders liberty in return for protection

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. social contractnoun

   An implicit agreement or contract among members of a society that dictates things such as submission of individuals to rule of law and acceptable conduct.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Social contract

   In 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 arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority (of the ruler, or to the decision of a majority) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights or maintenance of the social order. The relation between natural and legal rights is often a topic of social contract theory. The term takes its name from The Social Contract (French: Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique), a 1762 book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that discussed this concept. Although the antecedents of social contract theory are found in antiquity, in Greek and Stoic philosophy and Roman and Canon Law, the heyday of the social contract was the mid-17th to early 19th centuries, when it emerged as the leading doctrine of political legitimacy. The starting point for most social contract theories is an examination of the human condition absent of any political order (termed the "state of nature" by Thomas Hobbes). In this condition, individuals' actions are bound only by their personal power and conscience. From this shared starting point, social contract theorists seek to demonstrate why a rational individual would voluntarily consent to give up their natural freedom to obtain the benefits of political order. Prominent of 17th- and 18th-century theorists of social contract and natural rights include Hugo Grotius (1625), Thomas Hobbes (1651), Samuel von Pufendorf (1673), John Locke (1689), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762) and Immanuel Kant (1797), each approaching the concept of political authority differently. Grotius posited that individual humans had natural rights. Thomas Hobbes famously said that in a "state of nature", human life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". In the absence of political order and law, everyone would have unlimited natural freedoms, including the "right to all things" and thus the freedom to plunder, rape and murder; there would be an endless "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes). To avoid this, free men contract with each other to establish political community (civil society) through a social contract in which they all gain security in return for subjecting themselves to an absolute sovereign, one man or an assembly of men. Though the sovereign's edicts may well be arbitrary and tyrannical, Hobbes saw absolute government as the only alternative to the terrifying anarchy of a state of nature. Hobbes asserted that humans consent to abdicate their rights in favor of the absolute authority of government (whether monarchical or parliamentary). Pufendorf disputed Hobbes's equation of a state of nature with war. Alternatively, Locke and Rousseau argued that we gain civil rights in return for accepting the obligation to respect and defend the rights of others, giving up some freedoms to do so. The central assertion that social contract theory approaches is that law and political order are not natural, but human creations. The social contract and the political order it creates are simply the means towards an end—the benefit of the individuals involved—and legitimate only to the extent that they fulfill their part of the agreement. Hobbes argued that government is not a party to the original contract and citizens are not obligated to submit to the government when it is too weak to act effectively to suppress factionalism and civil unrest. According to other social contract theorists, when the government fails to secure their natural rights (Locke) or satisfy the best interests of society (called the "general will" by Rousseau), citizens can withdraw their obligation to obey, or change the leadership through elections or other means including, when necessary, violence. Locke believed that natural rights were inalienable, and therefore the rule of God superseded government authority, while Rousseau believed that democracy (self-rule) was the best way to ensure welfare while maintaining individual freedom under the rule of law. The Lockean concept of the social contract was invoked in the United States Declaration of Independence. Social contract theories were eclipsed in the 19th century in favor of utilitarianism, Hegelianism and Marxism; they were revived in the 20th century, notably in the form of a thought experiment by John Rawls.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. social contract

   A social contract is a theoretical framework or agreement that suggests individuals collectively consent, either explicitly or implicitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of a governing body or society in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. This concept, often used in philosophy or political science, indicates a mutual understanding to allow for social order, cooperation, and community cohesion.

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Social contract

   In political philosophy the social contract or political contract is a theory or model, originating during the Age of Enlightenment, that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate, in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. The question of the relation between natural and legal rights, therefore, is often an aspect of social contract theory. The Social Contract, created by Jean Jacques Rousseau was a book about government reforms and how it should change to suit the people instead of the government. Although the antecedents of social contract theory are found in antiquity, in Greek and Stoic philosophy and Roman and Canon Law, as well as in the Biblical idea of the covenant, the heyday of the social contract was the mid-17th to early 19th centuries, when it emerged as the leading doctrine of political legitimacy. The starting point for most social contract theories is a heuristic examination of the human condition absent from any political order that Thomas Hobbes termed the “state of nature”. In this condition, individuals' actions are bound only by their personal power and conscience. From this shared starting point, social contract theorists seek to demonstrate, in different ways, why a rational individual would voluntarily consent to give up his or her natural freedom to obtain the benefits of political order.

Matched Categories

1. • Agreement

How to pronounce social contract?

1. Alex

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   David

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   Mark

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   Daniel

   British

   Libby

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   Mia

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How to say social contract in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of social contract in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of social contract in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of social contract in a Sentence

1. Academic Auktor:

   Developmental State in the 21st Century – Calling for a New Social Contract.

2. Hakan Altinay:

   Too many of the attacks against The HDP are not investigated, the social contract has been broken. . ( And this is) key to( the Kurdish) sense of alienation. If you carry on that way the social fabric unravels.

3. David Yelland:

   Clearly Meghan and Harry don't want to go along with what you might call the social contract... where they get kicked around in the media but it's a stiff upper lip and you carry on.

4. Diego Benavides:

   We extended the social contract that we have with the community until 2018, fortunately, the stoppage did not impact our output and there was no damage to the mine.

5. California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

   There's a social contract here. People I think recognize the need to do more and to meet this moment, people will self-regulate their behavior, they'll begin to adjust and adapt as they have been quite significantly.

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=social contract
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Social_Contract
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Contract
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=social contract