Rationality, Justice and the Social Contract

In one important tradition of political and ethical thought, principles of justice are viewed as if they arose from a contract among individuals, drawn up in some presocial 'state of nature'. David Gauthier's Morals by Agreement is a distinguished contribution to this tradition, which seeks to show that rational individuals would accept certain moral constraints on their choices. In this volume, a group of philosophers, economists and political theorists discuss Gauthier's work and explore the possibilities and limitations of the contractarian approach to issues of justice.