Contractarianism & Neo-Intuitionism in Ethics

Paper Summary:

Contractarianism is a form of social contract, one which nonetheless is a tacit one. The writer looks into this term and follows with a comparison to neo-Intuitionism. In the end we see that the bottom line for the compatibility of intuition with ethics rests upon the condition that, while intuitions can be useful, they must never be our final arbiters.

From the Paper:

"If we expect from others only that they not interfere with our activities save if those activities threaten to harm them?then we can say that they are honoring our negative right to liberty. A negative right amounts to being a right to non-interference; that is, that people not do certain things. Positive rights, on the other hand, require that we do something for, or provide something to others. In a sense, however, positive rights include negative rights, since positive rights are simply added on. A note of caution though: the more positive rights which are added and this is why the earlier qualification "in a sense" the greater the chances that negative rights will be usurped."

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