- (An ideal type of state) The state possesses two essential features: it maintains a monopoly of legitimate coercion or violence (illegitimate violence is irrelevant) and it offers (sometimes fails to deliver) to protect everyone within it territory.
- Why should we obey the law? Is it simply because the law has some independent moral justification?
- Should we still obey the tax law given that some taxes are used to build nuclear warheads?
- Justifying the state is normally thought to mean showing that there are universal obligations to obey the law.
- From the view of Voluntarism, or self-assumption principle, political power over me can be created only as a consequence of my voluntary acts. Another person can have political power over me only if I have granted them that power. [Locke, Second Treatise] => Social Contract Theory
- Social contract is commonly thought to be an "origin contract". It was the moment, the mechanism, which took our ancestors from state of nature to civil society.
- Actually, major social contract theorists, such as Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau rely on tacit consent, which means people express their consent by quietly enjoying the benefit of the state. So people can show their dissent by leaving the territory. However, leaving the territory is no simple matter. What if the territory is surrounded by sea? What if there are no other countries?
Counter arguments on Social Contract
- Does the state of nature exist?
- Is there any evidence about this contract? Is there any historical record?
- How could such a contract have happened? Rousseau argued that in the state of nature, it is impossible to reach a legal agreement.
- How come a contract made by one generation can bind succeeding generations?
- Why haven't I ever been asked whether I agree to be governed?
- People may argue that our consent is expressed via voting. Then we may ask what about the people who vote against the government and the people who refuse to vote.
From Chinese History, Culture and Philosophy by Dr Yu
- Why the King is the King?
No comments:
Post a Comment