Contractarianism, Role Obligations, and Political Morality

Taylor & Francis

Contractarianism, Role Obligations, and Political MoralityAuthor(s): Benjamin Sachs\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781032120188, 978-1032120188\nSynopsis\nThis book argues that contractarianism is well suited as a political morality and explores the implications of deploying it in this way. It promises to revive contractarianism as a viable political theory, breaking it free from its Rawlsian moorings while taking seriously the long-standing objections to it.\n\nIts natural to think that the state owes things to its people: physical security, public health and sanitation services, and a functioning judiciary, for example. But is there a theorya political moralitythat can explain why this is so and who the states people are? This new contractarianism deploys a reversed state of nature thought experiment as the starting point of political theorizing. From this starting point it develops a political morality: a theor.