ETHCS303
VIDEO EXPLANATIONS
Back to Video Explanations
Social Contract Theory
From Hobbes's state of nature to Rawls's difference principle, plus the rights vocabulary the theory runs on and where it breaks down.
WAS THIS HELPFUL?
IN THIS RECORDING
- Hobbes on life without rules — "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"
- How the contract is formed and why no one is above the rules
- Rawls's two principles, including the difference principle on inequality
- Negative rights (leave me alone) versus positive rights (do something for me)
- Why some problems need a collective rule rather than individual good behaviour
- Conflicting rights, and social contract theory compared with Kantianism
DISCUSSION
Ask about anything in this recording, or answer a classmate. Sign in with your community profile to post.