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Social contract: The social contract is a theoretical agreement in which individuals consent to form a society, surrendering some freedoms in exchange for security and order. It underlies modern political philosophy, influencing governments and their relationship with citizens. Notable proponents include Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. See also Society, Contracts, Contract theory, Th. Hobbes, J. Locke, J.-J. Rousseau, J. Rawls.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Protagoras on Social Contract - Dictionary of Arguments

Gaus I 308
Social contract/Protagoras/Keyt/Miller: [an] issue of debate is whether a theory of the
social contract can be found in the Great Speech. ((s) For the Great Speech see >Protagoras/Plato
).
There are scholars on both sides of this issue. Although political relativism is consistent with a
social contract, the elimination argument usually used to attribute a social contract theory to
Protagoras - not by nature or by the gods, therefore by a social contract (see, for example, Guthrie,
1969(1): 137) - tacitly assumes a false disjunction.
Another possibility, noted in passing by Plato, is that laws are due to chance in the guise of war,
poverty, and disease (Laws IV.709a—b). Schiappa (1991)(2) is a recent book-length study of
Protagoras.
>Relativism/Protagoras, >Democracy/Protagoras.

1. Guthrie, W. K. C. (1969) A History of Greek Philosophy. Vol. 3, The Fifth-Century Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge Umversity Press.
2. Schiappa, Edward (1991) Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

Keyt, David and Miller, Fred D. jr. 2004. „Ancient Greek Political Thought“. In: Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. SAGE Publications

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.
Protagoras
Gaus I
Gerald F. Gaus
Chandran Kukathas
Handbook of Political Theory London 2004


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