ОБЩЕСТВЕННОГО ДОГОВОРА ТЕОРИЯ

Social Contract, Theory of

An idealist doctrine of the origin of the state and law as a result of a contract consciously concluded between people. From the viewpoint of this theory, complete anarchy and "war of all against all" or, according to some views, idyllic freedom, precedes society and the state. The general feature of the "natural state" is unrestricted personal freedom which people consciously forgo in favour of the state to ensure their safety, private property, and other personal rights.

The first concepts of the origin of state by contract arose in antiquity. Chinese philosopher of the 5th century B.C. Mo Tzu, sophists, Socrates, Epicurus developed such concepts. The Theory of Social Contract was most developed in the 17th-18th centuries (see Hobbes, Gassendi, Spinoza, Locke, Rousseau) in view of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism and the absolute monarchy. It was the ideological justification of the bourgeoisie's claim to political power.

The bourgeois limitations of this theory were expressed chiefly in proclaiming the eternity of the "natural" law of private property and justifying the economic inequality of people. This theory was also shared by the enlighteners in Russia (see Radishchev), the United States (Thomas Jefferson), and other countries.