Hume's Sceptical Enlightenment

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryu Susato
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Positive Assessment

David Hume (1711–1776) remains one of the most equivocal thinkers in eighteenth-century Europe. Some emphasise his conservatism because of his criticism of rationalism in morals and of the social contract theory in politics, while others deem him one of the most important liberal thinkers. He can also be characterised as a forerunner of utilitarianism or even postmodernism. How can these images be integrated? To address this issue, Hume’s Sceptical Enlightenment demonstrates the uniqueness and complexity of Hume as an Enlightenment thinker through an investigation of the ‘historical’ Hume. Based on a sceptical adaptation of Epicureanism, he delineates the variable and vulnerable nature of the workings of our imagination and opinions, and emphasises the essential instability of civilisation. In addition, he retains a positive assessment of such modern values as liberty, politeness and refinement, and carries the banner for secularisation. His ‘spirit of scepticism’, which permeates even his non-epistemological writings, enables these seemingly paradoxical positions. This book is not only for Hume specialists, but is also a contribution to the flourishing fields of the Enlightenment study. This intellectual history connects Hume’s early eighteenth-century Continental and British predecessors not only to Hume, but also to British philosophers writing up until the nineteenth century.

Hume’s Political Philosophy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil McArthur
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Account ◽  
Cautious Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Stability

Although David Hume never produced a single comprehensive work that encapsulated his views on politics, his various writings address a broad range of topics of relevance to political philosophy. He critiques the social contract theory of Hobbes and Locke, and he offers an alternative, evolutionary account of the origins of government. Hume sees all governments as the result of a struggle between authority and liberty, with the best of them achieving a balance between the two by implementing systems of “general laws.” Hume’s cautious approach to social change may fairly be called conservative. However, he is willing to endorse efforts at gradual reform when these efforts do not threaten the stability of the society. His legacy for modern political philosophy remains contested.

Rhetorics of “the People”: The Supreme Court, the Social Contract, and the Constitution

1999 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-302
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
American Political Thought ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Supreme Court

This article explores the federal judiciary's use of eighteenth–century social contract theory inUnited States v. Verdugo–Urquidez(494 US 259) to interpret the constitutional rhetoric of “the people” for our time. The principal version of social contract theory at play inVerdugorecalls a republican ideology which forms an old and volatile current in American political thought, an ideology which supports a far more exclusionary standard of membership in the nation than has obtained for most of this century, and which has important implications for the construction of political authority it is enlisted to support.

scholarly journals Konsep Nation-State dalam Pemikiran Ideologi Politik Melayu Islam pada Abad Ke-19 M (Studi Pemikiran Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi (1787-1854)

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-146
Author(s):  
Andi Chandra Jaya
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Management ◽  
The Social

The focus of this study is to answer the subject matter of how the concept of the nation-state according to Abdullah Munsyi in the constellation of Malay Islamic political ideology in the 19th century AD and how is the relevance of the concept of the current Indonesian nation state ? The study used the conscience morale theory of Ernest Renan and the social contract theory initiated by J. J. Roussae. This research is included in the library research category and uses historical approaches and political philosophy. The primary data in this study are Abdullah Musnyi's Hikayat Abdullah book published by Yayasan Karyawan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2007 and secondary data, in the form of books, journal articles, papers, and others related to research problems. the findings of the research are: 1). In accordance with the theory of conscience morale Ernest Renan and the social contract theory initiated by J. J. Roussae, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi was the originator of nationalism. Through his most important work, Hikayat Abdullah, he put forward the formulation of Malay identity in the formulation of the nation which was understood as a Malay tribe or race who had the right to be involved in determining the Malay political format not as a community under a political system that was authoritarian. 2). His closeness with the British colonial side, thus forming the liberal thinking he obtained from Raffles and his friends. He not only dismantled the manipulation of royal ideology, but at the same time put forward a new view of the existence of a humanist individual. 3). The understanding of nationality has egalitarian values ​​that are very relevant to the current Indonesian context, especially the values ​​of equality (egalitarianism) in the midst of the emergence of conflicts in various conflicts today. Likewise the concept of nation-state is closely related to nationalism and good governance where good governance is based on the absolute existence of transparency, open participation, and accountability in all state activities at every level of state management, so that a clean government is formed. Keywords: Abdullah Munsyi, Nation-State, and Malay Political ideology

The Epicureans on Human Nature and its Social and Political Consequences

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Jan Maximilian Robitzsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
The Social

Based on certain passages in Colotes, Hermarchus, and Horace, the Epicureans may be thought to defend a social contract theory that is roughly Hobbesian. According to such a view, human life without the social contract is solitary and brutish. This paper argues that such a reading is mistaken. It offers a systematic analysis of Lucretius’s culture story in On the Nature of Things v as well as the Epicurean passages that at first sight seem to contradict the Lucretian account. The conclusion of such an analysis is not only that all extant evidence is internally consistent, but also that Epicurean social contract theory relies on a ‘dynamic’ conception of human nature: On the Epicurean view, agents have very different psychological motivations when coming together to form societies and when coming together to form political and legal states.

Gendering the General Will: Frankenstein’s Breaches of Contract

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Beenstock
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
General Will ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Creation Stories

As a sociable being that is barred from society, Frankenstein’s monster presents a sustained engagement with social contract theory’s major dilemma of whether individualism can produce sociability. The male creature’s isolation and inner disunity suggest that contract theory displaces men and is unable to concatenate even those members that should be eligible for full citizenship. Shelley focuses on the gender inequality of contract theory through her different creation stories of the creatures’ bodies. In Victor’s decision not to complete the female creature she rejects Wollstonecraft’s revisionist approach to Rousseau, and demonstrates that social contract theory cannot be rewritten to include women. Women are not defined as political subjects but do have independent wills. Therefore, they are potentially resistant to contract and a threat to political control. Contending with Wollstonecraft and Rousseau, and also Coleridge and Godwin, Shelley suggests that intertextual relations produce unpredictable results. The creatures are test cases for the social contract’s respective failures in terms of social cohesion and gender.

Male Power and Contract Theory: Hobbes and Locke in Carole Pateman's The Sexual Contract

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Boucher
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Classic Work ◽  
Sexual Contract ◽  
Male Power ◽  
The Social

This article critically analyzes Carole Pateman's novel and provocative reading of social contract theory in her now-classic work, The Sexual Contract. Pateman posits the existence of a sexual contract prior to the social contract which she argues has been suppressed in the tradition of Western political thought. The article indicates some of the potential weaknesses with constructing a gendered critique of contract theory through the lens of a sexual contract. The author specifically focuses on Pateman's re-interpretation of the patriarchalism of Hobbes and Locke to make this case.

The Social Contract Model of Corporate Purpose and Responsibility

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 433-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nien-hê Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Responses ◽  
The Many

ABSTRACT:Of the many developments in business ethics that Thomas Donaldson has helped pioneer, one is the application of social contract theory to address questions about the responsibilities of business actors. InCorporations and Morality, Donaldson develops one of the most sustained and comprehensive accounts that aims to justify the existence of for-profit corporations and to specify and ground their responsibilities. In order to further our understanding about the purpose and responsibilities of productive organizations, and as a contribution to the scholarship on Donaldson’s thought, this paper gathers together the critical responses to Donaldson’s account along with Donaldson’s replies to his critics. The paper argues that we would do well to continue engaging with Donaldson’s account because of its distinctive and challenging conception of the purpose and responsibilities of productive organizations, but that many of the insights to be gained come from reframing the role played by social contract theory.

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