Three images of the social contract: state, morality, and human rights

Authors

  • Marcelo de Araujo Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Filosofia, e Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Faculdade de Direito. Bolsista de Produtividade do CNPq.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/fsu.2014.152.02

Abstract

This paper examines three different “images” of the social contract. The first image concerns the reasons for our accepting the existence of some form of political authority which has the power and the legitimacy to create laws and impose sanctions upon its citizens. The second image of the contract concerns reasons for our accepting the requirements of morality and the acquisition of a sense of justice. The third image concerns the reasons for the establishment of limits for the interference of state power in our lives. These limits are characterized in terms of human rights. The third image of the social contract elucidates in which sense human rights are universal rights, but it denies that there are any innate or natural rights.

Keywords: contractarianism, state, morality, sense of justice, human rights.

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Author Biography

Marcelo de Araujo, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Filosofia, e Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Faculdade de Direito. Bolsista de Produtividade do CNPq.

Marcelo de Araujo obtained his PhD in philosophy at the University of Konstanz, Germany, in 2002. He teaches ethics and philosophy of law at the c. He has an interest in the tradition of the social contract, bioethics and international relations theory. His publications include “Kontraktualismus“, in: Menschenrechte: Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch, ed. Lohmann and Pollmann, Stuttgart: Metzler, 2012, p. 193-198; and “Hugo Grotius, contractualism, and the concept of private property: an institutionalist interpretation”, in: History of Philosophy Quarterly, vol. 26, 2009, p. 353-371.

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Published

2014-08-26

How to Cite

ARAUJO, M. de. Three images of the social contract: state, morality, and human rights. Filosofia Unisinos / Unisinos Journal of Philosophy, São Leopoldo, v. 15, n. 2, p. 100–115, 2014. DOI: 10.4013/fsu.2014.152.02. Disponível em: https://www.revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/filosofia/article/view/fsu.2014.152.02. Acesso em: 23 may. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2014): May/August

Section

Articles

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