DVM 2105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Classical Mechanics
Document Summary
Two stages in convening of the contract social contract for nation making state making through electing of a sovereign power. We cannot trust each other to follow the third law of nature. Accordingly, we are in need of a sovereign: leviathan. Leviathan protects us: we must obey the sovereign so long as it keeps the peace. As individuals, we simply cede authority to sovereign and accept the legitimacy of that sovereign: each of us promises each other to obey the sovereign, therefore, each of us is morally obligated to obey the sovereign. This is necessary since it prevents us from slipping back into the state of nature and the war of each against all: sovereign can do anything short of taking our life. There is no such thing as an unjust law. Accepting the rule of the sovereign is just, Elected by the consent of all parties to the contract,