PHIL 101 American Military University Social Contract Theory Paper Respond back to these two paragraphs 100 word minimum -Hello Class,Social contract theor

PHIL 101 American Military University Social Contract Theory Paper Respond back to these two paragraphs 100 word minimum -Hello Class,Social contract theory is able to produce an orderly society without catering to any specific versions of “morality” or “good life” because regardless of personal beliefs people are in agreeance. It allows for individuals to agree to conduct themselves in a way that everyone can agree to be reasonable even if they do not agree with all things. Aristotle describes this agreed upon conduct in his Nicomachean Ethics as the rule of law were individuals interact together as part of a community. Rule of law is defined as the legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials. This idea is different from the oligarchy style system that Plato came up with where control was given to small groups to govern over everyone. Social contract an unsigned agreement made between a people and their government, an idea made popular by the British empiricist Thomas Hobbes in the eighteenth century. Hobbes wanted to understand human nature he wrote about it in his most famous work Leviathan. He attempted to synthesize scientific and philosophical procedure in order to create his own political philosophy to help explain why people live in political society. John Locke another British Empiricist unlike Hobbes thought the justice of law to come from natural law. Locke’s idea was that several different branches should be in charge of government. These ideas of the social contract, which the people make with their government, are able to avoid the problems of Divine command because the rule of law is mutually agreed upon. -Socrates was well known for his Socratic method. This method was a dialogue between him and others that led them down a road to show their own ignorance. This was not intending to make enemies, but when people are proven wrong, they tend to take offense. Eventually Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth by spreading his teachings. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to be put to death. Socrates’ friend Crito set it up to where he would be able to escape from jail. When Socrates awakens, he sees Crito there and begins a conversation with him to find out why he is there. Unfortunately for Crito, Socrates will begin to explain to him as to why he will not be escaping his sentence and fleeing to Greece. While Socrates does not believe that by practicing his practice that he did something wrong, he does have a strong feeling towards obeying the laws. He decides to have a conversation where he personifies the laws to see if he should indeed escape from prison. When Socrates does this, he finds that he has no right to escape. He reasons that he is who he is because of the city and the Laws of Athens. His parents were able to get married and therefore he was born because of the laws. His entire foundation for what he knows and what he learned came from the laws of Athens. He also states that if he wanted to leave Athens when he was old enough to make that decision, they would not have held him back. They would have accepted his choice and he could follow the rules in wherever else he decided to move. Since he decided to stay in Athens he then decided to abide by their rules and by doing this he has ultimately signed an unwritten contract with Athens. The Social Contract Theory is defined by the Encyclopedia of Philosophy as “the view that persons moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live” (Friend, n.d). When Socrates decided to stay in Athens as an adult, this is the type of agreement that he made with them. He agreed to follow their rules, he even agreed to accept punishment for violating the rules even the rules that he disagreed with.