CONTEMPORARY CONTRACTARIANISM AND HEGEL'S SOCIAL ETHICS

CONTEMPORARY CONTRACTARIANISM AND HEGEL'S SOCIAL ETHICS Rawls' Theory of Justice  Uses social contract to express moral equality, not artificial obligations  Principles of justice must be agreed to freely and equally  Veil of ignorance ensures impartial consideration of principles  Aims for fairness, impartiality, universalism based on autonomy Power Differentials Undermine Contracts  Example: mandatory arbitration clauses in employment  Limits access to courts, due process, class actions  Favors repeat employer users over individual employees Hegel's Social Self-Realization  Humans achieve self-realization through social engagement  Ethics concerns interpersonal relationships of trust, loyalty  Social relations intrinsic to self-identity, not peripheral  But must be with worthy people, organizations, institutions Developing a Social Self  Starts with undifferentiated self-consciousness  Interacting with objects develops sense of personal freedom  Exchanging property involves norms of right and wrong  Generalized morality recognizes shared identity with others  Welfare becomes universalized Duty Defined by Social Institutions  Rejected Kant's abstract moral law and subjective conscience  Claimed only objective ethics are laws and duties of institutions  Assumes institutions are ethical and compatible with members  Identification with duties makes them non-coercive

In summary, Rawls updated social contract theory to focus on impartial, fairprinciples of justice, while Hegel saw the development of a social self andidentification with institutions as key to realizing an ethical life. Both emphasize thefundamental social context of morality.