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The idea of morality as a social contract
offers an explanation of why it’s reasonable
to act in accordance with the dictates of
morality
As such it provides us with an answer to the
question ‘Why Should I Be Moral?’
Morality as a social contract tries to find a
basis for morality in self-interest
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People who believe in this concept of morality
tend to be rational egoists: someone who is
only interested in what is best for them
It works on the premise that if we can show it
is in everyone’s self-interest to be moral then
everyone has a reason to be moral
Our self-interest is better served if we
cooperate with others (this is the basis for a
‘social contract). We agree to restrict our own
actions in return for others doing the same
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Is the social contract theory something you
see in the world?
Do you think self-interest is the only thing
that would make people agree to behave
morally with in society?
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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English
philosopher who agreed with the social
contract theory
He claims that human beings are naturally
self-interested but that it is rational for them
to behave morally in order to maximise this
self-interest
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Hobbes begins his account of the origins of
morality by asking us to imagine the ‘state of
nature’ – by this he means the condition
humans would have enjoyed prior to any social
organisation
He thought that all human actions are
motivated by the effort to satisfy our own
desires and improve our own situation
Because humans are naturally self-interested,
in this state we all pursue benefits without
qualms as there is no such thing as right and
wrong: anything goes
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Although at first this might seem ok, the
downside of everyone doing whatever they
please is that there are no restrictions on how
people may treat others
People would be in competition with each
other for food and resources and this means
everyone will live in constant danger of being
robbed or killed
The result would be a kind of ‘war against all’
in which each of us would live in continual
fear and danger of violent death.
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Given that the state of nature is bad for
everyone, Hobbes reckons it is rational for
everyone to want to escape it
Since the only escape consists in following
rules which require cooperation between
people (a kind of social contract) it is rational
for us to agree to follow such rules so long as
we can rely on others to do so too
So Hobbes is claiming that there is no such
thing as right and wrong independently of
what is agreed by people living in civil society
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Do you agree with Hobbes?
Can you have a ‘good’ morality without
conforming to the same morals of the civil
society you’re living in?
Complete the tasks on the handout
Be ready to discuss your answers
Hobbes claims we are self-interested
creatures. If this is true then even if we made
an implicit contract with everyone else in
society when it comes to the crunch surely we
are going to break the contract before we risk
our own skins. To give an example from this
point we can look at Ian McEwen's novel
‘Enduring Love’.
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The novel begins in the Chiltern Hills with a
man clinging to a hot-air balloon shouting
for help. Inside the basket of the balloon is a
child. 5 strangers rush up to grab the ropes
to bring the balloon back down. A sudden
gust of wind takes the balloon up into the air,
with the 5 men still hanging from the ropes.
If everyone holds on then the weight would
be enough to bring the balloon back down –
but the higher they go up the more chance
they’ll die from the fall.
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Will the men stay holding the balloon and
conform to the social contract and try to help
each other, or will one or all of them let go to
save themselves?
The question here seems to be us or me? If
one person says me in this case there is
nothing to be gained by saying us.
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In the balloon example all but one let go. The clear loser
was the one who put others first and clung on, eventually
falling to his death. This suggests that cooperation is a
high risk strategy.
The fear and distrust of others means we are all highly
likely to opt out rather than risk being the one left
dangling.
So does this mean that even if we had made a Hobbesian
contract to bind ourselves together with others we are
bound to resort to self-interest? – clearly it is to my own
advantage if others behave morally, but if I’m given the
opportunity to cheat and steal why not do so? But then if it
is in my interests to break the rules, then surely others will
have reason to do the same and the system will quickly
descend into anarchy
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Hobbes answer to this problem is that we
need a powerful sovereign to enforce the law
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So the social contract involves handing
absolute power over to the state
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It is only if know breaking the rules is likely to
lead to more harm than good for ourselves
that we can be protected from our selfish
natures and so gain from the benefits of
cooperation