Month: January 2023

Lewis H. Morgan, Friedrich Engels, Sir Henry J. Sumner Maine, J. F. McLennan, Edward Jenks, R. M. MacIver are some of the jurists, historians, ethnographers and sociologists who have studied and commented on various aspects of primitive social relationships, authority and evolution of the state. While Morgan, Maine, and Jenks have analysed the way authority,… Continue reading Contributions to the theory

The Historical-Evolutionary theory does not appreciate that origin of the State is due to some social contract or force or divine dispensation alone. Rather, it adopts a multi-causal approach and attributes the origin of the State to a variety of causes. These relate not only to force, war and power and religion but also to… Continue reading Historical-Evolutionary Theory of Origin of the State

The social contract theory has been charged with lacking legal soundness. Tom Paine criticized it on the ground that it required an eternally binding contract on each generation. For Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, it is an irrevocable contract and consent once given is binding not for only those consenting but for all the coming generations… Continue reading Legal soundness

The critics hold the social contract theory as philosophically untenable. The reason being, it: (i) treats State and society as a mechanical contrivance merely to fulfil selective needs; (ii) assumes a state of nature and also automatic endowment of political consciousness within it; (iii) assumes existence of rights and liberty independent of society and state.… Continue reading Philosophical tenability

The critics invariably doubt the historical possibility of such a social contract. It is said that historical and sociological evidences do not support validity of the state of nature. By challenging the very basic assumption of the theory about the existence of the state of nature, the critics push the social contract theory in the… Continue reading Historical and sociological possibility

Social contract theory may be termed as the most influential political doctrine that came up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and that could boast of a long line of supporters and sympathizers. Besides Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, various philosophers, jurists, political writers, poets, and religionists supported the social contract theory. These included ‘Hooker, Milton,… Continue reading Critical Evaluation of the Social Contract Theory

Since the State is a result of contract, it is an artificial construct. So is the post-contract civil society, except for Rousseau. As such, one of the challenges is to achieve unity and stability in the civil society. Hobbes sought to achieve this by assigning unity to the Leviathan, the sovereign; Locke did that by… Continue reading Nature and type of state in the civil/political society

The three social contractualists viewed human nature and the prevailing condition in the state of nature somewhat differently. However, as Garner opines, ‘whatever the difference of opinion among the philosophers as to the actual character of the state of nature, they were all in accord that it was unsatisfactory condition of society.’41 The unsatisfactory condition for… Continue reading Nature and terms of social contract

‘State of nature’ signifies a condition of human existence from which man seeks to emerge either due to an anarchic condition or an absence of authority or regulation on the activities of individuals or lack of condition of self-expression. In short, it is a stateless condition without a superior authority (either a Leviathan or a Commonwealth or… Continue reading Condition in the state of nature

The difference in the approach of the three social contractualist thinkers starts with the difference in their understanding of human nature and psychology. Hobbes in Leviathan gave primacy to the instinct of self-preservation as the principle behind all human behaviour. Starting from the assumption that two types of feelings, desire and aversion are the moving factors in human beings,… Continue reading Human nature and psychology of man