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Full Idea
Any attempt to provide a social justification of morality runs the risk of the 'free rider' - one who pretends to play the game in order to enjoy the fruits of it.
Gist of Idea
Any social theory of morality has the problem of the 'free rider', who only pretends to join in
Source
Roger Scruton (Modern Philosophy:introduction and survey [1994], 20.6)
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'Modern Philosophy: introduction and survey' [Sinclair-Stevenson 1994], p.291
| 15 | Sin first, then sacrifice to the gods from the proceeds [Plato] |
| 2377 | No one who admitted to not keeping contracts could ever be accepted as a citizen [Hobbes] |
| 2379 | If there is a good reason for breaking a contract, the same reason should have stopped the making of it [Hobbes] |
| 22499 | We all know that just pretending to be someone's friend is not the good life [Foot] |
| 4116 | A weakness of contractual theories is the position of a person of superior ability and power [Williams,B] |
| 3896 | Any social theory of morality has the problem of the 'free rider', who only pretends to join in [Scruton] |