PHILOS 3N03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: David Gauthier, Archimedean Point, Minimax

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHILOS 3N03
• Professor: Matt Grellette

Document Summary

Social contract: a political society is formed by the consent of its members, to be legitimate, political authority has to be based on the consent of the individual. Consent, agree to terms: important philosophers. Son is so bad that any government should be preferred to it. Once achieved, any social contract should be preserved: any changes to social contract is return to son. Limiting or dividing authority will put the social contract at risk > the defence of absolutism: recipe for more organized violence, spreading the power to two groups, john locke. Presents a more benign state of nature (e. g. , humans created as equal; should not harm others) Social contract predicated on the protection of the rights we enjoy in the son. Separation of powers, the right to revolution: jean-jacques rousseau. The social contract: reconcile (a) the freedoms of the state of nature with (b) the demands of society. Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.