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Single Idea 10

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract ]

Full Idea

Once people experience committing wrong and suffering it, they see the disadvantages are unavoidable and the benefits unobtainable, ...so they enter into a contract, guaranteeing no permitting or receiving wrong, ...and they then make laws and decrees.

Gist of Idea

After a taste of mutual harm, men make a legal contract to avoid it

Source

Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 359a)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Republic', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1993], p.46

A Reaction

This seems to be the earliest statement of the social contract idea. Here it both sets up the state and creates morality. This is Glaucon speaking, and is NOT endorsed by Socrates.

Related Idea

Idea 19946 Morality is a compromise, showing restraint, to avoid suffering wrong without compensation [Plato]

The 30 ideas with the same theme [power derived from agreement among citizens]:

23215 Even the poorest have a life to lead, and so should consent to who governs them [-]
10 After a taste of mutual harm, men make a legal contract to avoid it [Plato]
14515 A law is not just if it is not useful in mutual associations [Epicurus]
5654 The Second Treatise explores the consequences of the contractual view of the state [Locke, by Scruton]
19888 A society only begins if there is consent of all the individuals to join it [Locke]
6702 If anyone enjoys the benefits of government (even using a road) they give tacit assent to its laws [Locke]
19909 A politic society is created from a state of nature by a unanimous agreement [Locke]
21100 The idea that society rests on consent or promises undermines obedience [Hume]
20495 We no more give 'tacit assent' to the state than a passenger carried on board a ship while asleep [Hume]
21101 The people would be amazed to learn that government arises from their consent [Hume]
7233 The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature [Rousseau]
19842 The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract [Rousseau]
20569 Kant made the social contract international and cosmopolitan [Kant, by Oksala]
21063 Personal contracts are for some end, but a civil state contract involves a duty to share [Kant]
21068 There must be a unanimous contract that citizens accept majority decisions [Kant]
21069 A contract is theoretical, but it can guide rulers to make laws which the whole people will accept [Kant]
22778 Individuals can't leave the state, because they are natural citizens, and humans require a state [Hegel]
3909 Society isn’t founded on a contract, since contracts presuppose a society [Hegel, by Scruton]
22809 The social contract sees society as constituted by and for individuals [Taylor,C]
21119 Power is only legitimate if it is reasonable for free equal citizens to endorse the constitution [Rawls]
21019 Social contracts assume equal powers among the participants [Nussbaum]
18635 Social contract theories are usually rejected because there never was such a contract [Kymlicka]
21035 Just visiting (and using roads) is hardly ratifying the Constitution [Sandel]
8989 The benefits of social freedom outweigh the loneliness, doubt and alienation it brings [Scruton]
20490 For utilitarians, consent to the state is irrelevant, if it produces more happiness [Wolff,J]
20493 Social contract theory has the attracton of including everyone, and being voluntary [Wolff,J]
20494 Maybe voting in elections is a grant of legitimacy to the winners [Wolff,J]
20984 A social contract limits the pursuit of justice to members of a single society [Sen]
20738 Social contracts and markets have made society seem disconnected and artificial [Aho]
20537 Hypothetical contracts have no binding force [Swift]