Single Idea 4418

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism]

Full Idea

He who can command, he who is "master", he who is violent in act and bearing - what has he to do with contracts!

Gist of Idea

A masterful and violent person need have nothing to do with contracts

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (On the Genealogy of Morals [1887], II.§17)

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'On the Genealogy of Morals/ Ecce Homo', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1969], p.86


A Reaction

The persistent problem with social contract theory is that those much stronger or much weaker seem to have no interest in morality at all, and yet they can all have standards of behaviour.