A Preliminary Study Of Scanlon's Non-self-interested Contract Theory

Scanlon calls his theory'the morality of right and wrong',that is to say,we can judge a moral judgement in right or wrong.And Scanlon's theory is a form of Contractual Theory,it means that there is not a standard of moral right or wrong naturally.For judging a moral judgement,Scanlon established a formula of moral right and wrong.For explaining the core concept of the formula'reasonableness' better.Scanlon came up with 'reason' as the most basic basis.Meanwhile,Scanlon's moral theory can judge moral judgement,so it has more explanatory power to moral motivation than the other mora theories.In this article,firstly,l teased the two traditions of Contractual Theory,on the one hand,to illustrate the difference between contractarianism and contractualism;on the other hand,to illustrate the inheriting and carring forward of Scanlon's theory to the traditional contractualism.And then,I analyzed the refutation of contractualism to the utilitarianism,to illustrate the advantage of contractualism.Secondly,I emphasized Scanlon's formula of moral right and wrong:It holds that an act is wrong if its performance under the circumstances would be disallowed by any set of principles for the general regulation of behavior that no one could reasonably reject as a basis for informed,unforced general agreement.'In this formula,there is a core concept:'reasonableness',the basis of Scanlon's theory.Scanlon explained 'reasonableness' by the concept 'reaon'.Finally,Scanlon's interpretation of moral motivation is the most important advantage of his Contractualism,when it comes to moral theory.Scanlon discussed the problem of moral motivation from two aspects.On the one hand,he stressed the priority of morality.The priority of morality is mean that why moral reason is the first rule of human behavior rather than other reasons.On the other hand,he focus on the importance of moral.That is to say Scanlon wants to argue whether moral reason can be the reason of human behavior.