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The Modern Social Contract Tradition

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Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics

Abstract

This chapter discusses central strands of the modern social contract tradition. Distinguishing between moral and political theories on the one hand and contractualist and contractarian theories on the other, it presents one example of each of the ensuing categories: Gauthier’s moral contractarianism, Buchanan’s political contractarianism, Scanlon’s moral contractualism, and Rawls’ political contractualism. In the conclusion, strengths and weaknesses of social contract theories are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    cf. [1]. However, some authors of classical contract theory, notably John Locke, build on theological premises (cf. below).

  2. 2.

    Gauthier [2] cf. in particular the last chapter.

  3. 3.

    Buchanan and Tullock [7], cf. in particular Chap. 11.

  4. 4.

    See [1], for an overview.

  5. 5.

    Cf. also [3] for a discussion.

References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Philosophie, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Universität St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Lisa Herzog

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  1. Lisa Herzog
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Correspondence to Lisa Herzog .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Peter Löscher-Stiftungslehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsethik, Technische Universität München, München, Germany

    Christoph Luetge

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Herzog, L. (2013). The Modern Social Contract Tradition. In: Luetge, C. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1494-6_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1494-6_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1493-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1494-6

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