Oakeshott and Rawls as Successors to the ‘Social Contract Theory’ for the Origin of Society, Justice, Rights and Duties: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

Since the inceptions of biological lives, the pages of history are full of evidence that not only human beings but also all the rest of biological existents have ever strived to safeguard their lives as well as their possessions. But life is not a smooth highway, there are many hurdles and a lot of trespassers who not only assault others’ lives or usurp the possession or usurp or destroy the property of others. Thus there emerged the concept of one’s rights and the duty of others. For this idea, there was a need for a ruling authority that could safeguard the rights of the suppressed and punish the oppressors. Thus there needed to be a ruler or a head along with a code of laws to decide based on Justice. That was the preamble of establishing a society or the raw idea of the Social Contract theory.  Here is a critical, comparative and logical analysis of various aspects of this theory, presented by many thinkers.