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To summarize, if no one else rides the bus, it's better for me if I drive my car.
If everyone else rides the bus, it's better for me if I drive my car. I have used logic
to conclude that I should continue to drive my car. Unfortunately, everyone else
in the town logically reaches the same conclusion! As a result, the city runs out of
gasoline.
The reason we all decided to act selfishly was because we did not have a com-
mon agreement. If all of us agreed that everyone should ride the bus two days a
week, and those who did not would pay large fines, then logic would have led people
to choose to use public transportation.
Social contract theory is based on the idea that morality is the result of an
implicit agreement among rational beings who understand that there is a tension
between self-interest and the common good. The common good is best realized
when everyone cooperates. Cooperation occurs when those acting selfishly suffer
negative consequences.
3. It explains why under certain circumstances the government may deprive some people
of some rights.
For example, social contract theory provides a logical explanation of why it is
morally acceptable to punish someone for a crime. You might ask, “If everyone
has a right to liberty, how can we put in prison someone who has committed a
crime?” The social contract is based on the notion that everyone benefits when ev-
eryone bears the burden of following certain rules. Knowledge that those who do
not follow the rules will be punished restrains individuals from selfishly flouting
their obligations. People will have this knowledge only if society punishes those
who commit crimes.
4. It explains why under certain circumstances civil disobedience can be the morally right
decision.
Consider the lunch counter sit-ins of the 1960s. On February 1, 1960, four African
American students from North Carolina A&T walked into the Woolworth's store
on South Elm Street in Greensboro, sat down at a whites-only lunch counter, and
asked for service. When they were denied service, they refused to leave, sitting at
their stools until the store closed. Two days later, eighty-five students participated
in the sit-in at Woolworth's. All of these students were breaking segregation laws,
but according to social contract theory, their actions could be considered morally
justified. As we have said, the social contract is based on the idea that everyone
receives certain benefits in return for bearing certain burdens. The segregation laws
were designed to give people of color greater burdens and fewer benefits than white
people. Therefore, they were unjust.
2.9.5 The Case against Social Contract Theory
1. None of us signed the social contract.
The social contract is not a real contract. Since none of us have actually agreed to
the obligations of the citizens of our society, why should we be bound to them?
 
 
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