A philosopher is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to.

Ok, so let's begin with what began my lecture last week (as it seems a logical place to start). We began the lecture with a discussion on the death of Socrates, which is important when discussing the idea of a 'social contract' (conveniently the topic of my blog today, what a coincidence!). The idea is; that when Socrates was sentenced to death, a great many of his followers were very eager to get him out of such a sorry predicament, yet, when they asked him if he wanted assistance Socrates refused. Now, at this point, one has to wonder why a person would refuse being saved from horrific death, seems very anti-darwin, but Socrates was adamant that if he were to reject the power of the state in which was brought up and allowed to live, then he would be breaking the laws set out by the state: the very state that he had fed upon (metaphorically speaking) for his entire life, thus breaking the unspoken contract that he implicitly signed by living in said society.

The relevant point in this is the idea that when a person lives in a society, they are bound to serve that society and follow the rules set out by the powers that be, and in breaking said rules, one might bring the entire civilisation to it's knees, as what then would prevent others from doing the same.

This idea is explored in Hobbes' 'Leviathan': in which Hobbes describes the only antidote to a fearful anarchic 'State of Nature' (in which there is no governing power and it's every man for themselves). The Leviathan is a singular ruler who must be obeyed and given absolute power in order to regain civilisation from the chaotic state of nature. The only right than can be retained, according to Hobbes, is the right of self-defence. This means that the Leviathan can be over thrown if they are unable to defend those under their control; thus breaking their social contract.

We also discussed Locke, but due to his part in my next lecture/seminar, He will appear then.