Contract Methodology And Its Implications For China

As an ideology, contract theory plays an important role on the construction of political-power theory in the west. During 17 and 18 centuries, contract theorists had diligently constructed respective political theory through contract theory, lying solid foundation for later constitutional government, and this indicated that contract theory simultaneously has important methodology significance. In the modern times, Rolls and other theorists make contract theory revive as a methodology. Contract methodology can be used to demonstrate the validity of government, and provide one kind of basic thought on the public order's construction. In our country, the research of contract theory is on the rise, on this base, this thesis tries to analyze and generalize the contract knowledge and discuss its model significance to reforming China.This thesis has three parts.In the first part, author introduces contract methodology and its history. Contract, a universal phenomenon in social life, is utilized to organize the political society and to conceive the political theory, appearing the methodology significance.In the second part, author analyzes the method of contract theory and the value, function of contract methodology. The contract methodology from Hobbes to Rawls has mainly utilized the logic reasoning method, and taken Methodological Individualism as its logical beginning. The values of contract methodology focus on subjectivity, equality, justice, reciprocity and so on. These basic values cause the contract methodology to display functions such as analysis and explanation, organization and construction, standard and revision.In the third part, author analyzes contract methodology's implications to China. The Chinese traditional methodology is ethics methodology or the family-country methodology, which mainly adapts with the agricultural society. This methodology mainly depends on the human relationship to maintain order, and takes the family-country as social basic political power organization form. Today, China has changed deeply, and the traditional methodology can't meet the new need of our country, while, contract methodology maybe help us to analyze some problems and provide the solutions.This thesis' main achievement and innovation lie in: it inquires into profoundly contract theory's methodology significance and function, excavates the Chinese tradition methodology's limitation, discusses the necessity and the possibility to use contract methodology for reference, and takes some examples about how to use contract methodology. This thesis mainly uses historical method to adopt the knowledge about contract theory, logic-analysis method to analyze contract theory, and comparing method to prove the difference between China and the west.