From: zeborah@gmail.com   
      
   David Friedman  wrote:   
      
   > In article ,   
   >  Aqua  wrote:   
   >   
   > > Joy Beeson wrote:   
   > > > On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:36:27 +1000, Aqua    
   > > > wrote:   
   > > >   
   > > >> I'm increasingly suspicious of people who don't seem to understand the   
   > > >> social contract.   
   > > >   
   > > > There's only one?   
   > >   
   > > I meant the principle of social contracts; the abstraction behind social   
   > > contracts.   
   >   
   > There's only one?   
   >   
   > The most sense I can make of a "social contract" is that it's like a   
   > peace treaty. Nobody actually believes it's just--everyone thinks he is   
   > entitled to different, generally more favorable, terms than he gets.   
      
   *I* believe it's just.   
      
   >But   
   > the alternative is continued conflict, and accepting an unjust outcome   
   > is better than that.   
   >   
   > Of course, one possible problem with that view of it is that it weakens   
   > or eliminates the moral force of the contract metaphor, since it makes   
   > the social contract a contract signed under duress--and most people   
   > don't think contracts signed under duress are binding.   
      
   Most contracts are compromises made by people who would like better   
   terms but are willing to settle for these terms for fear of having no   
   contract at all.  That doesn't make them signed under duress.   
      
   The difference between a social contract and a normal contract is rather   
   that the signatories to it had no input to its terms at the time of   
   signing (=birth, essentially).  But I say hey, we didn't have any input   
   into the gravitational constant either; and at least as members of   
   society we can have continuing input into how the terms develop and   
   change.   
      
   Zeborah   
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