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Hume: Consent and the Original Contract
CRAIG HENDERSON1
This essay will first seek to endorse the proposals of the Scottish
philosopher David Hume (1711-76) against social contract theories. It
will defend his dismissal of the notion of consent as an endorsement for
the existence of a social contract as necessary for state legitimacy. Hume
agrees that government is legitimate but, rather than being founded on
consent, it is based on a foundation of tradition and trial and error
through which citizens come to realise that to be governed brings about
the best results for everyone. Finally, we shall see how Hume judges the
notion of promising, specifically in relation to the social contract, as
devoid of value and unnecessary.
We should first note that Hume shares the opinion of other social contract theorists
that government is good for us. For example, Hardin (2007: 105) writes that, “in
essence, Hume and [Thomas] Hobbes share the view that universal egoism… can be
channelled by government to produce universal welfare and, that egoists, for their
own benefit, would therefore want government”. Precisely what Hume disagrees
with, however, is the claim that current governments obtain their legitimacy through
the existence of a social contract that is founded on the consent (tacit or otherwise) of
the population. Instead, Hume argues that governments are founded in actuality, as
they ensure the greatest utility of people in society. In relation to this, it is first
important to explore how Hume, in Of the Original Contract,2 contends that modern
governments do not come to power through a voluntary agreement between the
populace and the ruler.
Throughout this important book, Hume attacks the idea that government is founded
totally on the wilful consent of the people which is secured through some form of
Craig Henderson is a final year Philosophy undergraduate. Any errors are the author’s own. The
author can be contacted at [email protected].
2
The copy quoted here is a 1987 edition of the original text printed in 1748.
1