Question

3.Source: Enlightenment David Hume - On the notion of the Social Contract

"it is wrong to assume that people living under a government have consented to its power" Why does Hume say that?

Answer 1

David Hume in his essay “On the notion of the Social Contract” says that "it is wrong to assume that people living under a government have consented to its power."
Hume in his theoretical essays attacks two notions of the political philosophy of the eighteenth century. His theory attacks on the social contract and the function and nature of justice about private property. He wrote the essay “On the notion of the Social Contract” in 1748 in which he argued that the political alliances are not based upon any social contract. Rather they are based upon the general perspective and observation that the maintenance of the society is dependent on the governmental system. This essay argues that a society cannot be maintained and functioned without a proper governmental system. Talking about the time in which the system of the government was not introduced by the people, Hume says that in those days people themselves elected members as their representatives without any written documents or contracts. It is through general experiences and the reality of the events that have shown that a governmental system is formed on the basis of conquest and not on election procedure or consent of the people. At times, there remains no choice for the people to make free choices about the formation of the government. People at such times choose to live silently as they don’t have the option to leave their country. Hence, they remain silent and accept the form of government silently. Hume concludes his essay commenting on the reality of the political alliances and its effect on the people. He says that the basis of any political alliance is held upon selfishness of the authority. It is only that we perceive only the benefits of the orderly society and not look upon the ills or de-merits of it.