Description
The paper reviews some of the models of consequentialist justice, the nature of social contracts, and the social coordination of behaviors through social norms.

The challenge with actualizing justice in many contemporary societies is the broad and often conflicting

The paper reviews some of the models of consequentialist justice, the nature of social contracts, and the social coordination of behaviors through social norms.

The challenge with actualizing justice in many contemporary societies is the broad and often conflicting individual beliefs on rights and responsibilities that each member of a society maintains to describe the opportunities and compensations they attribute to themselves and others. This obscurity is compounded through a lack of academic or political alignment on the definition and tenets of justice.

The result of the deficiency of commonality of the definition and tenants of justice often result in myopic decisions by individuals and discontinuity within a society that reduce the available rights, obligations, opportunities, and/or compensations that could be available through alternative modalities.

The paper begins by assessing the challenge of establishing mutual trust in order to achieve cooperation. I then examine utility enhancement strategies available through cooperation. Next, I turn to models that describe natural and artificial sources of social contacts, game theory, and evolutionary fitness to produce beneficial results. I then examine social norms, including the dual inheritance theory, as models which can selectively reinforce certain cooperative behaviors and reduce others. In conclusion, a possible connection among these models to improve the overall fitness of society as defined by the net average increase in available utility, rights, opportunities, and compensations is offered.

Through an examination of concepts that inform individual choice and coordination with others, concepts within social coordination, the nature of social contracts, and consequentialist justice to coordinate behaviors through social norms may illustrate an integrated perspective and, through additional examination, produce a comprehensive model to describe how societies could identify and foster just human coordination.
Downloads
pdf (382 KB)

Details

Title
  • A consequentialist model for just social contracts
Contributors
Date Created
2019
Resource Type
  • Text
  • Collections this item is in
    Note
    • Partial requirement for: M.A., Arizona State University, 2019
      Note type
      thesis
    • Includes bibliographical references (pages 45-46)
      Note type
      bibliography
    • Field of study: Philosophy

    Citation and reuse

    Statement of Responsibility

    by C. R. Herro

    Machine-readable links