PHL100Y1 Study Guide - Final Guide: Homo Economicus, Game Theory, Socalled
Document Summary
Social contract theory: social institutions are a product of voluntary agreement between free individuals. The function of the social contract theory is to justify a moral obligation to society. The function of the social contract: to explain why there is any moral obligation at all among people in society which will allow us to arrive at particular obligations. State of nature: an analytical (not historical) device to examine the self-interested behavior of rational egoistic individuals. State of nature examines how people would behave in the absence of government, in conditions of scarcity. Hobbes says the state of nature is a war of all against all. Natural right: each person has the liberty to use any means possible to preserve his or her life. Natural law: a rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive to his life, or take away means of preserving his life.
