A SUMMARY OF HUME’S SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

A SUMMARY OF HUME’S SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

David Hume is known as one of the modern philosophers that critics social contract theory. ‘On Civil Liberty”, being one of his essay, he avers that the social contract theory is an accessible fiction. He grounds his critique on the ground that all men are born naturally equal and owe no troth to prince or government unless bound by the obligation and sanction of a promise. He further argued that the consent of the governed was the ideal foundation on which a government should rest, but that it had never actually occurred historically. Hume avers that all government being present or past has assumed authority either through arrogation or conquest without any fair consent or voluntary subjection of the people therefore, they lack legitimacy which social contract guarantees.

Thus, David Hume considers unvoiced consent to a social contract. He avers that by living under the dominion of a prince which one might leave, one has given a unvoiced consent to his authority and promised him obedience. Hume exemplifies this unvoiced consent with arguments. The first argument illustrates the contract implicit consent as a result of being born in a particular location and under a particular form of government while the second posits of the dependency on a government to be the base of the implicit consent. The last example present the case where a usurper overthrows a lawful prince and establishes a dominion which people would abhor in their hearts but nevertheless submit their consent to his rule.

Mores so, Hume believes and continually accent that appeal to common opinion counters contract theory. For instance, when a greater number of a society is questioned about their consent to the authority of their rulers, their possible answer would be that it depends not on their consent but that they were born to such obedience. Nonetheless, Hume’s meta-ethics leads him to the view that common opinion is authoritative in moral matters. An aftereffect from Hume’s meta-ethics directs to a series of moral obligations. In concord with that, Hume avers of a moral obligation to submit and to obey a government because it is the common opinion although no existing social contract attests to it and also a disobedience to government naturally produces displeasure to anyone who reflects on it.

Therefore, taking an esoteric survey in Hume’s social contract theory there is a strong connection of his meta-ethics as the foundation. Thus, his appeal to common opinion lays emphasis on utilitarianism while his moral obligation concept puts a strong claim on the deontology principle.