Review On The Contract Theory

Nowadays,the study of philosophy is focused on the political philosophy,which is a study of practical problems,such as ethics,moral philosophy and other disciplines,and it is very different from political science.Politics discuss what the thing is,but political philosophy explores cause.Philosophy is the premise critique of the natural world,and political philosophyis a critical review to the politics.The paper will concentrate on the prerequisite criticism for the state.The state has always been the main subject on the political philosophy,and the origin of the country has provided the foundation for the legitimacy of the state,which includes two aspects:one is how to emerge the state power,the other one is how can we let it be perfectly legitimate.The former is the justification of the state;the latter is the consolidation.In the history of political philosophy,different academic factions have different answers to these two questions,contract social theory is the one of the greatest influence and dominance in many theories,which is a significant theoretical contribution of liberalism.In the interior of liberalism,contract theory can be divided into classic one and modern one according to theoretical connotation and historical period.The theoretical basis of these two is "universal agreement",for the sake of security,convenience,freedom,division of labor and other reasons,people agreed to establish the country,so they will sign the contract and let their own rights to the state.That is the reason for the country and the answer to the first question based on classic theory of contract.People sign contracts and comply with the provisions of the contract relying on the natural law without exception,which ensures that the state can be produced,which is the answer to the second question.In other words,in accordance with natural law,people sign the contract resulting in the country on the basis of unanimous consent.On the basis of reexamining the theory of contract,Nozick put forward his unique "anti-contract theory".He denies the two aspects of classic theory of contract,one is against the foundation of it,the metaphysics of natural law,and the other is against the method of explaining the origin of the state.His theoretical starting point is right,in order to protect the rights of people,the protective association will sell protective services.According to the principles of the market,they will compete with each other to get more clients,and then dominant protective associations remain.To protect the rights of the clients,dominant protective associations prohibit non-commissioners from exercising their rights,it is the ultra-minimal state.Ultra-minimal state will provide non-commissioners protective services as compensation,it can be seen as a country without monopoly factors,what Nozick called as minimal state.The only responsibility of minimal state is assuming protection for people's rights.That is the answer for question of how can we have the legitimate state in the Perspective of Nozick.Using the anti-contract theory to explain origin of the state has sparked a lot of criticism and intense debate from contemporary political philosophers.Although his theory has many difficulties that he can not overcome,his innovative attempt has opened a new perspective for us to look at the national issue,which can not be ignored in the field of contemporary political philosophy.