How the concept of social contract relate to natural law
What is meant by a social contract? How does the concept of social contract relate to natural law? Provide an example of a social or criminal issue that challenges the concept of natural law.
Sample Answer
A social contract is an implicit agreement between members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, such as peace and order. The concept of social contract is often attributed to the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes argued that humans in their natural state would live in a state of war, where “life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” To escape this state of war, humans would agree to a social contract, where they would give up some of their natural freedoms in exchange for the protection and benefits of society.
The concept of social contract is closely related to the concept of natural law. Natural law is the idea that there are universal moral principles that are inherent in nature and that can be discovered through reason. Natural law theorists argue that these principles are binding on all humans and that they should form the basis of human law.