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Single Idea 2377

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 5. Free Rider ]

Full Idea

He therefore that breaketh his covenant, and consequently declareth that he thinks he may with reason do so, cannot be received into any society.

Gist of Idea

No one who admitted to not keeping contracts could ever be accepted as a citizen

Source

Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], 1.15)

Book Ref

Hobbes,Thomas: 'Leviathan', ed/tr. Macpherson,C.B. [Penguin 1981], p.205


The 6 ideas with the same theme [one who achieves maximum success by breaking contracts]:

Sin first, then sacrifice to the gods from the proceeds [Plato]
No one who admitted to not keeping contracts could ever be accepted as a citizen [Hobbes]
If there is a good reason for breaking a contract, the same reason should have stopped the making of it [Hobbes]
We all know that just pretending to be someone's friend is not the good life [Foot]
A weakness of contractual theories is the position of a person of superior ability and power [Williams,B]
Any social theory of morality has the problem of the 'free rider', who only pretends to join in [Scruton]