...Social Contract Theory on the Criminal Justice System and Private Security Philosophy Foundations of Ethics in Justice and Security Social Contract Theory on the Criminal Justice System and Private Security Prior to the social contract theory, there was no government body providing laws, order, and protection. Humans were left to protect their own lives and property. When problems ensued between individuals, evolution occurred, and the strongest usually survived. From this, the social contract theory emerged, which required a group of individuals to give up their individual rights to govern themselves, and comply to a selected government authority. This government represents the group’s interests and forms and civil society that provide protection of life and property (Souryal, 2007). This paper will summarize the different social contract theories, focus on John Locke’s social contract theory principles, and discuss how these principles influenced the Bill of Rights. Additionally, this paper will search how these principles are present in the criminal justice system and private security settings. Lastly, the paper will describe freedom of personal rights and ethical standards and obligations. Social Contract Theories There are many different versions of the social contract theory. Thomas Hobbes' social contract theory defines state of nature as a condition of self-absorbed human...
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...“The Social Contract” Jean-Jacque Rousseau Book 1 Summary & My own thoughts: Chapter 5: We must always go back to a first agreement Rousseau believes that a despotic ruler may rule half of the world people, but as soon as he dies his empire would shortly collapse because his interests was simply his sole private interest, therefor there is no unity. The ruler does not try win the people’s heart, he rules by inflicting fear among the mass, fear of typically one individual, himself. By dominating with fear he isolates himself from the mass, upon that he does not care about public’s interest, therefor when his reign is over his empire will dissolve into a heap of ashes. It is the prior agreement that makes the minority obligated to the majority’s vote. Chapter 6: The social compact Rousseau concluded that the social compact boils down to ‘Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.’ This is the first time in this work that Rousseau comes up with the phrase ‘the general will’. Chapter 7: The sovereign Each individual when making a contract with himself would acquire two commitments: (a) as a member of the state he has a commitment to the sovereign, and (b) as a member of the sovereign. An individual would have a particular will that contradicts with the general will and might think he/she is not obliged to...
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...The state refers to a nation or territory that is considered as an organized political community under one government or sovereign. The social contract bounds this political community which consisted of its citizens to the state; if there is no government and there was no law to regulate them, every individual would do whatever they deem fit, this results in hardships and oppression on the sectors of the society. To resolve these issues, the individuals entered into two agreements which are “Pactum Unionis” and “Pactum Subjectionis” (Elahi, n.d.). “Pactum Unionis” refers to the undertaking to respect each other and live in peace and harmony and “Pactum Subjectionis” means that people pledged to surrendered the whole or part of their freedom and rights to an authority. The authority in turn provides protection of lives, property and to a certain extent liberty for everyone under the social contract, through the usage of common laws. In order for the state to remain in power to enforce the social contract, it has to always maintain its control. According to Rappa (2012), there...
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...Page 1 of 7 What is Social Contract Theory? The concept of social contract theory is that in the beginning man lived in the state of nature. They had no government and there was no law to regulate them. There were hardships and oppression on the sections of the society. To overcome from these hardships they entered into two agreements which are:1. “Pactum Unionis”; and 2. “Pactum Subjectionis”. By the first pact of unionis, people sought protection of their lives and property. As, a result of it a society was formed where people undertook to respect each other and live in peace and harmony. By the second pact of subjectionis, people united together and pledged to obey an authority and surrendered the whole or part of their freedom and rights to an authority. The authority guaranteed everyone protection of life, property and to a certain extent liberty. Thus, they must agree to establish society by collectively and reciprocally renouncing the rights they had against one another in the State of Nature and they must imbue some one person or assembly of persons with the authority and power to enforce the initial contract. In other words, to ensure their escape from the State of Nature, they must both agree to live together under common laws, and create an enforcement mechanism for the social contract and the laws that constitute it. Thus, the authority or the government or the sovereign or the state came into being because of the two agreements. Analysis...
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...and ethical codes presented by philosophers throughout history, few have remained intact for any long period of time. As years pass, old ideas are debated, revised, or discarded to make way for new avenues of thinking. What is important, then, is to seek out the partial truths in any given philosophical position and use them for what they are, instead of either accepting or rejecting the entirety of the belief set as objectively true or false. Even those theories that seem to be completely refuted serve an important purpose by the arguments used therein. A perfect example of this lies in Social Contract Theory, as presented by John Rawls and others. Social contract theory presents the belief that morality is an agreement made amongst humanity. Each of us has, by being part of society, “signed” this unwritten contract that compels us to behave in a certain way. Those who violate the contract are shunned by society in some way, while those who abide by it gain the benefits of being an accepted member. This is not to imply that morality is entirely relative; moral codes are changed only when there is some significant event that actually affects society itself in some way. Instead, Rawls presents the idea that the code we agreed to abide by should be created by an impartial observer operating from what he terms the Original Position. This perspective is that of a person who has no perception of their own place in society. They have no idea of their gender, economic status, ethnicity...
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...Social Contract Theory of John Locke Shannon Roundtree June 23, 2014 Patricia DeAngelis Differences of the Social Contract Theories There were three critical thinkers who played a major role in creating the concept of the social contract theory. The overall concept of this theory was to see how individuals could survive in a world regulated by laws and government. Each of these individuals had different perspectives on the state of nature. Thomas Hobbes’ view was that man was fearful and selfish. He believed that man desired a sense of security and order. If man wanted to have a sense of self-preservation and protection, they needed to enter into a social contract and surrender their rights and freedom. In other words, a government was created to regulate their lives. Thomas Hobbes also believed that individuals were free to take whatever they wanted and be greedy, and resolve disputes with war. John Locke’s view was different than Thomas Hobbes as he believed no individual has any power over the next and everyone has the freedom to do what they want. John Locke also believed that if an individual committed a crime, they needed to be punished. Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that the government should adhere to the freedom of all individuals, but with constraints. His views were that individuals could not be free in modern society like they could be in a state of nature if property and laws existed. Key Principles of John Locke’s Social Contract Theory John Locke viewed...
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...Freedom is a very susceptible term, to Mr. Jean - Jaques Rousseau freedom seems to be a product of nature and at the same time a product of civilization, and either of them is true depending of the context that freedom is interpreted in. Freedom then becomes a set of constraints, chains that compel us to cooperate with others in order to survive. It is for the sake of a community that new chains need to be created, thus given birth to the law. The purpose of this piece is to analyze the nature of freedom, the civil rights and the establishment of the a sovereign power according to Mr. Rousseau’s work. Let’s begin with men and his freedom. “Men is born free; and everywhere he is in chains,” (ER, 430) I take what Mr. Rousseau means is that In nature, men is born free but as soon as the event of his birth comes to pass, men becomes enslaved to his own needs, to his intellectual and physical limitations. Therefore the only obvious solution to any problem presented to man was to be solved physically, through the use of strength, to build, to hunt, to control their environment. So freedom in this sense is the use of force, and also is yielding to force, “an act of necessity” (ER,431) Mr. Rousseau calls it, and act of self-preservation. And it is by combining forces that men can manage to defend their rights, their freedom. But to Rousseau, strength isn’t just power or necessity, it is also a responsibility that compels to respect the freedom of others. This way power becomes...
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...Based on the definition of social contract theory is “the view that persons’ moral or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement between them to form society.”All citizens who are living in the country should follow the rules of their government. By resource, biomechanics developed during the early 1970s(Molyneux 2010). Combined this technology, immortality maybe achieved and brings benefits for the whole society. However, the evidence from research has been proved that there is no obvious relevant law of immortality in Australia. Social contract is implicit, geographical and unilateral, which means that it should exist as a law rather than a formal agreement.If there is no law on immortality, there is no rule for people to obey. People could do whatever they want to make immortality come true. It might benefit the society, meanwhile, some immoral issues would also be engendered. From this point of view, social contract theory is not suitable for evaluating immortality. To evaluate whether an activity has moral worth is judged by motivation(Sandel 2010). First of all, it should be a good will. Basically, immortality makes human live longer in this world which is a good original intention, and it does not break any existing laws or principles in society. On the other side, biomechanics is a high technology which describes the application of engineering mechanics to biological and medical. This technic brings benefits on human medical treatment. Both of them...
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...Social Contract Theory of John Locke Luca D. Iaria University of Phoenix CJA 532/ Ethics in Justice and Security Professor: Cyril Vierra January 25, 2015 John Locke was a British Philosopher born in 1632. His most famous written work was The second treatise of civil government (written in 1690). This book focused on the natural state of man and how government should be structured. Locke was a fan of man to say the least. Locke describes man in his writing’s as being inherently good natured. Locke goes on to explain that man in a state of nature is peaceful. Locke contested that man should challenge authority by using self reason to search for the truth. He said that man shouldn’t just expect the opinion of the authority or be subject to superstition. By man choosing to use reason he can then find the truth and challenge the legitimate functions of institutions hence optimizing human flourishing for the individual and the society. Locke explains that without the establishment of a common political authority, man will remain in a state of nature. This is a clear example of how Locke felt about man and how he viewed them as a whole. Lock stated “All men in their natural state are in a state of perfect freedom (Locke, 1690).” The positive side of Locke's anti-authoritarianism is that he believes that using reason to try to grasp the truth, and determining the legitimate functions of institutions will optimize human flourishing for the individual and society both in respect...
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...Social contract theory is a philosophical account of the origins of the state and the relationship between the individual and the state. It refers to an agreement between individuals, in which they abandon a part of their freedom (or natural rights) in exchange for laws guaranteeing an organized society. The concept of a social contract appears early in the writings of Plato; nevertheless, the major theorists of this concept are credited to Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This essay will assess the meaning of the social contract through an analysis of their theories. Hobbes describes his conception of the social contract in his book Leviathan whereby he begins describing an account of men in the state of nature. In this state, men strive for power, are relatively equal and fight for scare resources (Wolff 2006). Therefore, from theses assumption of equality, scarcity and uncertainty, Hobbes theorized the creation of a state, which could ensure peace and security by commanding people (M.Rosen and J.Wolff 1999). That is why the social contract should be a “contract of submission”, which means that the only way to maintain the security is to completely submit to a sovereign authority. This contract is characterised by two fundamental features, which are a complete submission and an absolute power (J.Hampton 2013). Hobbes argues, only a powerful sovereign can maintain social stability: “Without the sword, contracts are only words" (Leviathan 1651). The result...
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...The Social Contract Theory of John Locke Paper University of phoenix Finance and Budgeting in Justice and Security AJS/532 Matthew O’Deane November 20, 2013 The Social Contract Theory of John Locke Paper My paper evaluates the Social Contract Theory of John Locke, and how his principles are even within the criminal justice system, and private security situations nowadays. This paper shall also in great detail debate whether or not Locke’s’ values and beliefs pertain to criminal justice as well as private security venues. A summary will be presented to identify key dissimilarities of the social contract theories, recognize key any principles connected with Locke’s social contract theory, label how these codes are instilled within the United States Bill of Rights, recognize how these principles show within the criminal justice system and security organizations of present, and lastly define independence in regards to personal rights and proper principles, and commitments. “A social contract is a voluntary agreement in which mutual benefit occurs between and for individuals, groups, government or a community as a whole. According to Locke, the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one's life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others (Kelly, Martin. (2012)).” This doesn’t mean that it is a state of authorization: a citizen isn’t...
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...RMIT SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT BUSM2301 Introduction to Organizational Behavior Learning Contract C SOCIAL LOAFING Course: BUSM 2301. Group Number: 10. Full name: Linh, Dang Binh Phuong. Student ID: s3210262. Words Count: 1,995. TABLE OF CONTENT I. INTRODUCTION 3 II. LEARNING IN ACTIONS - FINDINGS - ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION: 3 1. Observation: 3 2. Apply theories: 4 2.1 - Applied theory of "Specializing the tasks": 4 2.2 - Applied theory of " Establish task importance along with highlight achievement": 5 3. Interview 6 III. CONCLUSION 7 IV. REFERENCE 8 I. INTRODUCTION After doing research and review on Social Loafing at LCB, in this LCC, I would like to present what actions and strategies I have used and applied based on theories about this topic as well as making interviews in order to achieve my learning goal. Moreover, I would like to analyze and evaluate the results of what I have done based on the detail action plan introduced at LCB. Finally, in the conclusion I will point out what I have learnt, how effective my learning contract is and what I should do to improve it in the next time stage. II. LEARNING IN ACTIONS - FINDINGS - ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION: While looking through the Social Loafing literature review (LCB) to get better and thorough understanding about my topic, I decided to take following actions to fulfill my understanding on Social Loafing as well as to reach my desired learning goal. 1. Observation: To me, observation is the very...
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...ETHICS TOPIC： Social Contract Q1：Do you agree that enterprise should be responsible for their own survival and development first, and to take account of social responsibility? The concept of Corporate social responsibility was first introduced by the Western developed countries. This idea becomes popular in recent years. Even Fortune and Forbes business magazine rank enterprises ratings with the "social responsibility" standard. We can see that Western place huge importance on corporate social responsibility. How to take social responsibility? From the perspective of enterprise internally, enterprise should protect the dignity and welfare of the employee. Viewed from the external, enterprise should have good influence to the social environment. Corporate social responsibility can be divided into many aspects, economic, cultural, educational and environmental responsibility. As for the economic responsibility, enterprise create wealth, provide material goods and improve the quality of human living. As for cultural and educational responsibilities, enterprises must provide acceptable work environment for employees base on human rights, educate employees behavior in accordance with social ethics. And also comply with environmental protection requirements on the production. There is no dispute that the first priority of the enterprise is innovation and the production. Enterprises should be the creator of social material wealth. The goal of enterprises is to provide social material products...
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...Tate Gentry 1/6/13 Government All of The President’s Men We watched the movie “All The President’s men” and it was a movie made about the Watergate Burglary. The Watergate scandal was one of most controversial government scandals in the 1970’s. In 1972, before the election took place Nixon was going to do whatever it took to get re-elected. He was involved in the Watergate break-in. “Plumbers” were sent into the DNC offices to gather information to help Nixon in the presidential campaign battle with the democrats. Wiretaps, bugs and copies of the democrat’s campaign strategies would be great help. Nixon denied any involvement in Watergate, but interestingly did everything he could to block any investigation into his involvement. He kept his involvement hidden from the general public until after he was re-elected. Much like president Obama did with the attack on the American Embassy in Benghazi. Nixon’s presidency fell apart when slowly bits of proof of his involvement began showing up beginning at the trial of the Watergate burglars. To try to help, Nixon’s four advisors resigned. His vice president Spiro Agnew had to resign not only because of Nixon’s wrong doings, but his own problems excepting bribes while governor of Maryland. The end for Nixon was when his conversation tapes were asked for and impeachment proceedings were started. What made it even harder for the judge was the fact that when the tapes were being played different sections were missing...
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...He a the bright light of Enlightenment movement, contributing articles to the Encyclopedia of Diderot, and participating in the salons in Paris, where the great intellectual questions of his day were pursued. Rousseau has two distinct social contract theories. The first is found in his essay, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men, which is an account of the moral and political evolution of human beings over time, from the State of Nature to modern society. As such it contains his naturalized account of the social contract, which he sees as very problematic. The second is his idealized theory of the social contract, to alleviate the problems that modern society has created for us, as laid out in the Second Discourse....
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