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This 5 page paper looks at Hume's work on social contracts and provides some support for the thesis. The ideas are explored in depth and contemporary examples are provided. No additional sources cited.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA149Hum.rtf
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social contracts and provides some support for the thesis. The ideas are explored in depth and contemporary examples are provided. No additional sources cited. SA149Hum.rtf
Humes ideas about government and the social contract come through loud and clear in his "Of the Original Contract." Here, the philosopher argues that
people are, for the most part, ruled against their will. It is important to remember that democracy was a concept at this time. Yet, Hume did not see this as
possible, at least in the practical sense. To Hume, the people really do not have rights and the only reason that a leader stays in power is because he has
an army to back him. That idea is twofold. One, democracy is a good concept but cannot be implemented and two, the people only stay in line due to force.
Hume does reference Athens. He says "The republic of Athens was, I believe, the most extensive democracy that we read of in history: yet if we make the requisite allowances
for the women, the slaves, and the strangers, we shall find, that that establishment was not at first made, nor any law ever voted, by a tenth part of those
who were bound to pay obedience to it " (Hume PG). One can take this notion a step further and analyze it in respect to contemporary democracy. In Athens things
were not fair, and that is perhaps as pure as democracy gets. Today, in America for example, there is still a great divide between the haves and the have nots.
The people are enslaved, to some extent, by what society dictates they do. Although the people have some free will, they are
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