Contractualism Flashcards
Contractualism key words:
- contract
- how we should govern ourselves
- political
- alternative to utilitarianism
The social contract:
- to escape egoism, we agree to be governed
- recognize certain obligations we have to each other
- I won’t hurt you, you won’t hurt me, and we both agree to be governed by this
Social contracts are only valid if _____ ____.
consented to
3 types of consent:
- actual
- tacit
- hypothetical
Actual consent:
- factually incorrect
- an actual signed contract
Tacit consent is insufficient for morality to arise for 2 reasons:
- no other options = no consent
- coercion/force present = no consent
Hypothetical consent:
- most compelling
- says “what would rational people agree to if asked”
- focuses on the reasons people have for giving consent
Athlete signed contract with the league is the only way to use _____ contract. We need to …
- actual
- have all the facts
- clear but limited
Sport culture contract:
details are debatable
Always specify the _______ _______.
contractual arrangement
People don’t give consent to ______ ______; _____ gain legitimacy from consent.
- legitimate contracts
- contracts
In contractualism used as moral principle, we need to treat people by principles……. instead of principles……
- they could not object to
- everyone would agree to
Reasonable objections must have 2 features:
- must be reasonable
- deals with more than well-being
Describe how an objection must be reasonable:
- if something negatively affects me, I can object
- does it affect others even more?
- if so, I have to withdraw my objection
- ex. saying no to full contact to avoid injuring knee
Describe how an objection must deal with more than well being:
burdens applied without respect for me as a person are unjustifiable, even if they produce equal well being
Discuss the green spaces issue as a utilitarian.
- ban everyone but the 10% of people who are white
- no easy objection to this solution can be mounted by utilitarianism
- critique of distributive justice
Discuss the green spaces issue as a contractualist.
- more than pleasure needs to be accounted for
- things have to be fair, utilitarian only looking for pleasure
- justice matters
Reasons for objection in green spaces issue:
object to being denied access to green spaces because it is racist
Contractualism deals with what we ____ one another, not just _____/_____.
- owe
- pleasures/pains
Utilitarianism is ______ whereas contractualism is not.
aggregate
Under contractualism, we must be able to _____ our reasons against objections.
justify
If something brings greater happiness but is ______, it is still wrong.
unjustifiable
Contractualism can sometimes lead us to…
intuitively unethical situations
Discuss swimmers on the rocks scenario:
- if you go to the rock with 6, the objection of person on 1 rock would be that they would die
- if you go to he rock with 1, all 6 would have the same objection
- the objections of the 6 rock don’t add up, so they have the same objection
- scrambled justification
How can contactualism be too demanding? Give an example.
- how can you object to saving someone’s life, even if it costs you greatly?
- What reason do you have to object that would be better than their reason for excruciating pain/dying?
- Only real reason would be that it would make you suffer more or die if you were to help them
- you have to help everyone that has a stronger burden (poverty, have to rob a bank, getting caught may or may not be strong enough)
Donating money with contractualism:
shouldn’t we all be donating all our money to save the starving even if it makes us much worse off, but not starving?
3 steps to contractualism:
- identify the stakeholders
- why would the stakeholder groups object to your action?
- compare those, find the strongest and go with it. You are morally obligated to follow it.
Who are the stakeholders is the swimmers on the rocks situation?
- people related to the swimmers (one of the swimmers is a dad, their child objects to you not saving him) - Friends?
- Life saving society (for the lifeguards; could get sued)
- owners of the resort?
