PHIL 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Harm Principle

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1010
• Professor: Kyle Bromhall

Document Summary

Social contract theory - essentially free, of equal strength/moral standing, must consent and artificial constraints of freedom. Tacit consent - you take advantage of social good, take responsibility for social good, agreeing to it by participating in it. but what happens if you don"t want it, etc. Hypothetical consent - if you had decision, any rational person would consent to state social contract. Rationality: why make things justifiable in a way everyone will agree, just make it make sense. > utilitarianism! max happiness, min unhappiness. irrational = immoral. Principle of fairness - makes social contract a transaction. give up something, get something in return. gives you a claim on other people"s behaviour. state acting on behalf of everyone else playing by the rules. Doesn"t hinge on consent, it hinges on transactions between individuals and society/each other. Society as a whole has to decide what behaviour to limit. State would be overly paternalistic if it prevented us from harming ourselves.