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Contractarianism as a Broad Church

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  • Robert Sugden

    (University of East Anglia)

Abstract

I defend the claim, made in a previous paper, that ‘a Humean can be a contractarian’, against the criticisms of Anthony de Jasay. Jasay makes a categorical distinction between ‘ordered anarchy’ (which he associates with Hume) and ‘social contract theory’. I argue that Hume’s political position was conservative, not anarchist. On Hume’s analysis, a convention is an implicit agreement; the concept of convention is more general than, rather than distinct from, that of agreement by exchange of promises. Hume justifies political obligation by treating established forms of government as conventions in this sense.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Sugden, 2013. "Contractarianism as a Broad Church," Rationality, Markets and Morals, Frankfurt School Verlag, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, vol. 4(69), September.
    • Handle: RePEc:rmm:journl:v:4:y:2013:i:69
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    File URL: http://www.rmm-journal.de/downloads/Article_Sugden.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brennan, Geoffrey & Hamlin, Alan, 2004. "Analytic Conservatism," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(4), pages 675-691, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Erik W. Matson & Daniel B. Klein, 2022. "Convention without convening," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 1-24, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    contractarianism; social contract theory; Hume; ordered anarchy; convention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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