“Social contract theory, nearly as old as philosophy itself, is the view that persons’ moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live”(Friend). To enumerate, this ideology is derived from one taking moral action based upon what would be best for society as an entire collective. In other words, this thought process is based upon an assumption on the part of an individual which impacts an entire mass of other individuals, and this affect of any one or more actions could be generational. This canard holds no validity because it is literally impossible for a single human being to make a “contract” with all of society thus formulating a single state. Jean-Jacques Rousseau held the belief that individualism regarding free will was vital to society. “Rousseau’s social contract theories together form a single, consistent view of our moral and political situation. We are endowed with freedom and equality by nature, but our nature has been corrupted by our contingent social history. We can overcome this corruption, however, by invoking our free will to reconstitute ourselves politically, along strongly democratic principles, which is good for us, both individually and collectively”(Friend). Individuality cannot be molded into a form of socialistic practices because it will fail from the very beginning due to the free will variable. “A basic tenet of Marxist social theory is that human history is in large part the history of class conflict”(Sterba). This is only one of the many external forces which tugs and ultimately forces socialism to fail.
Moving forward, let us briefly analyze Benito Mussolini’s philosophy. “I had the experience of one only doctrine—that of Socialism from 1903-04 to the winter of 1914 about a decade—but I made it first in the ranks and later as a leader and it was never an experience in theory. My doctrine, even during that period, was a doctrine of action. A universally accepted doctrine of Socialism had not existed since 1915 when the revisionist movement started in Germany, under the leadership of Bernstein”(Mussolini). “Benito Mussolini coined the term “fascism” in 1919 to describe his political movement. He adopted the ancient Roman fasces as his symbol. This was a bundle of rods tied around an ax, which represented the power of Rome”(Constitutional Rights Foundation ). Essentially, Mussolini followed the Marxist approach of socialism via the Social Contract Theory, and sought to reform socialism with fascism (the rods are symbolic of society surrounded by his ax of authority) under the principles of Duty Ethics. “Duty theories base morality on specific, foundational principles of obligation”(Fieser). Therefore, it can be stated that Duty Ethics is acting on the embedded assumption from within an individual on the part of other individuals to obtain some form of morality. Assumptions which carry generational impacts cannot be loosely based with mere guesses as the centrality of ingredients within their framework. To be more specific, Social Contract Theory cannot be combined with Duty Ethics because the system fails and crashes from within. The Mussolini regime left us proof of this failure that subsists within a document called La Carta del Lavaro. Here are the first to points from this Work Charter of 1927 under the “Of the Corporate State and its Organization” subheading:
“The Italian Nation is an organism having ends, life, means of action superior, for power
and duration, to those of divided or grouped individuals that compose it. It is a moral, political
and economic unity which is fully realized in the Fascist State.
Work, in all its forms, organizational and executive, intellectual, technical and manual, is a social
duty. For this reason, and only for this reason, it is protected by the State. The production
complex is unitary from the national point of view; its objectives are unitary and are summarized
in the well-being of individuals and in the development of national power.”(The Work Charter)
As can be seen, Mussolini attempted to reform socialism by pushing it aside with his own brand of it called fascism. Across history, socialism fails thus creating so-called reformers to come along with their own rebranding of socialistic ideologies. We also saw this with Hitler transforming Germany into his own version of socialism called the National Socialist German Workers Party. “The National Socialist ideology was an outgrowth of earlier political theories that also gave birth to fascism— a political movement that became popular in Italy some years before the Nazis took over Germany”(Vashem).
Ultimately, in the first paragraph it is established that no single human being could successfully make a contract with society. Satan attempts to establish a contract with society as the Anti-Christ, but even Satan needs the help of the false prophet, and fails after seven years. Only Jesus Christ can make a contract with the world because it is His creation, and His success was established on the cross. John 18:36 of the King James Version states, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence”(Holy Bible ). Since we know that we are born into are world of sin there are two forms of ethical principles at battle which are those of Jesus and those of Satan. Under this argument, the Divine Command Theory enters into play as a formulated absolute. “Roughly, Divine Command Theory is the view that morality is somehow dependent upon God, and that moral obligation consists in obedience to God’s commands. Divine Command Theory includes the claim that morality is ultimately based on the commands or character of God, and that the morally right action is the one that God commands or requires”(Austin).
Works Cited
Austin, Michael W. Divine Command Theory . 2018. https://iep.utm.edu/divine-c/ .
Constitutional Rights Foundation . “Mussolini and the Rise of Fascism -Bill of Rights in Action.” 2010. Constitutional Rights Foundation . http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-25-4-mussolini-and-the-rise-of-fascism.html.
Fieser, James. “Ethics .” 2018. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy . https://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/#SH2b.
Friend, Celeste. Socia Contract Theory . 2018. https://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/.
Gray, Alexander. Rousseau’s Form of Socialism. 22 September 2009. https://mises.org/library/rousseaus-form-socialism.
Holy Bible . Thomas Nelson Publishers , 1997.
Mussolini, Benito. “The Doctrine of Facism.” Vers. Encyclopedia Italiana. Vol. XIV. READINGS ON FASCISM AND NATIONAL SOCIALISM. Ed. Allan Swallow. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14058/14058-h/14058-h.htm#THE_POLITICAL_DOCTRINE_OF_FASCISM.
Sterba, James P. “A Marxist Dilemma for Social Contract Theory .” American Philosophical Quarterly 19.1 (1982): 51-59.
“The Work Charter.” Polyarchy.org. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.polyarchy.org/basta/documenti/carta.lavoro.1927.html&prev=search.
Vashem, Yad. “National Socialism .” YadVashem.org- Shoah Resource Center-The International School for Holocaust Studies. https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205941.pdf.
