Contractarianism

This Element provides a systematic defense of moral contractarianism as a distinct approach to the social contract. It elucidates in comparison to moral conventionalism and moral contractualism the distinct features of moral contractarianism its scope and conceptual and practical challenges that concern the relationship between morality and self-interest the problems of assurance and compliance rule-following counterfactualism and the nexus between morals and politics. It argues that if appropriately conceived moral contractarianism is conceptually coherent empirically sound and practically relevant and has much to offer to contemporary moral philosophy.