Social Contract Flashcards
What did the social contract try to explain?
Why we formed government.
The social contract was a ___ experiment conducted to try to figure out…
Thought; What society would look like without a government.
Who were the main thinkers that explored the social contract discussed in class?
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
What was the initial contract between people that needed enforcing by a governing body?
“If you don’t kill me, I won’t kill you; if you don’t steal from me, I won’t steal from you.”
We formed governments to be the ___ of the basic contract.
Arbitrators.
The initial contract between people can be linked back to the ___ principle.
Harm.
The government was formed ___ the people, ___ the people.
By the people, for the people.
The governments before the Enlightenment were hierarchical. However, Enlightenment thinkers pursued the idea that governments should serve…
The needs of the people.
Through the social contract, thinkers tried to figure out how and why free people came together to ___ ___ and ___ ___.
Form government, create laws.
