Contractarianism

Description

This Element provides a systematic defense of moral contractarianism as a distinct approach to the social contract. It elucidates, in comparison to moral conventionalism and moral contractualism, the distinct features of moral contractarianism, its scope, and conceptual and practical challenges that concern the relationship between morality and self-interest, the problems of assurance and compliance, rule-following, counterfactualism, and the nexus between morals and politics. It argues that, if appropriately conceived, moral contractarianism is conceptually coherent, empirically sound, and practically relevant, and has much to offer to contemporary moral philosophy.

Michael Moehler is Founding Director and Core Faculty member of the Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Virginia Tech. His research and teaching expertise lies in the history of moral and political philosophy, rational choice theory, public reason theory, distributive justice, the welfare state, political economy, and interdisciplinary topics in philosophy, politics, and economics. He is author of Minimal Morality: A Multilevel Social Contract Theory (2018) and Contractarianism (Cambridge, 2020).