Rawls's Critique Of Social Contract And Its Philosophical Significance

After the theoretical processing of the enlightenment thinkers,such as Hobbes and Locke,the state doctrine of the contract has become the foundation of the emergence of the western nation-state and the legitimacy of the regime.However,in order to guarantee the legitimacy of citizens' rights and the necessity of abiding by the contract,a new moral system,the natural law,is suspended above the social contract.This abstract presupposition,which puts morality above the contract,undoubtedly forms a new "god concern".At the same time,the subjective value judgment in lieu of the objective law of historical theory design,not only blur the line between fact and value,and thus lead to the decline of classical contract theory represented by Rawls and the rise of modern social contract theory.Rawls' s critique of social contract is under such a background.Rawls' s strategy is to put the traditional contract pattern in a direction of the inversion of the theory,that is,the "moral post-contract" to the "first contract morality".He divides the natural law and the rights of a priori theory through the cover of "veil of ignorance" and under the constraints of contract,and the moral principles through the constraint makes the front is no longer abstract presupposition before a contract,but a common choice after the conclusion of the contract.In other words,the transcendental moral system that was previously on the social contract is now placed under a modern contract theory as a result of a contract,not a precondition.The most important thing is that through the design of the "veil of ignorance",the individual will inevitably adopt a relatively conservative attitude when he is unable to know his specific identity and ability.Because don't have the ability to calculate risk,profit and fear that they may be at least one party,the contracting of the rational and will not risk to choose certain moral principles,not trying to make a decision for others and society.They only standing in the community the most unfavorable position,take the maximum minimum rules and choose the best from the worst possible options,in order to realize the maximization of the interests of the most unfavorable class.It is the virtual and non-historical contract state of the original state that makes the social contract theory transform from the subjective reason to the objective rational choice.Original position,although is only a thought experiment,the purpose of the contract is not set up a kind of special system or into a particular society,but establishes the basic structure of a kind of guiding social fundamental ethical principles.This choice behavior itself is no longer affected by natural law theory of arbitrariness and historicallimitations of bondage,which is no longer a natural heteronomy selection based on fear,but in the original position of the self-discipline of the free will of individual choice.The discipline is the social contract agreed to by the people as a result of extreme political utilitarianism of relentless flay,also is for personal interest and public interest consistent concept of justice and its institutional social order from the heart to admit.The rationality of the modern social contract is that it is no longer the result of coercion or the compromise of utility,but the basic principle of justice which is to pursue the balance between humanity and good.So Rawls pushes the contract theory to a higher level of abstraction.This paper consists of three parts: introduction,text and conclusion.The main body part is divided into three parts.The first part mainly discusses the occurrence of the traditional contract theory background and main political intentions,to reveal the social contract theory not only cannot be the origins of legitimacy of the state power,and there is a great theoretical dilemma.The second part systematically analyzes Rawls' s critical approach to the social contract theory of Hobbes,and further explains the nature of his new contract theory.The third part summarizes the core idea of this paper through comparative analysis of the above two parts: the directional change of social contract mode.Finally,it points out the philosophical significance of this new contract mode.