What is the social contract? What theories have been articulated to describe it, from Antiquity to the present day? How and why did theorists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries believe in and cherish it so much? For what reasons do philosophers, thinkers, politicians, and commentators still use the term "social contract" so frequently today?
This book attempts to answer these questions. It thoroughly examines the concept of the social contract and studies the various theories that have developed in relation to it, mainly in modern times. It seeks to show how Grotius establishes modern natural law, how exactly Hobbes inaugurates modern contractual theory, why Locke gives it a liberal hue, while Rousseau seals it with his supreme synthesis, as well as the reasons why Spinoza rejects the contract.
Despite the criticism it has faced over time, contractual theory has managed to be revitalized and dominate contemporary political philosophy. Therefore, the study of social contract theories is interesting and remains extremely relevant.
