Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Philosophy

Committee Chair

THOMAS NENON

Committee Member

LINDSEY STEWART

Committee Member

MARTIN ASIEGBU

Committee Member

REMY DEBES

Abstract

The classic social contract theorized by Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke advocates for establishing the state based on individual freedom; for them, a contractual agreement rather than nature serves as the foundation for the state. In his Philosophy of Rights, Hegel rejects this classic view of the social contract, which sees freedom and consent as the basis of the state. While the perspectives of the classic social contract and Hegel yield differing interpretations of freedom, the dissertation explores their relationship against contemporary challenges to freedom. It investigates the extent to which the classic social contract' s conception of subjective freedom, which prioritizes the individual over the state, can establish any meaningful conception of freedom in the state. Within that framework, it also examines Hegelian communitarian theory, which emphasizes the state over the individual, to see how it can lead to a better understanding of individual freedom. Against this background, the dissertation investigates some of their claims to determine how they can address the question of freedom and provide a more comprehensive understanding of freedom that responds to contemporary challenges. From the results of this investigation, the dissertation concludes that while their differing views are significant for comprehending freedom, neither is sufficient to establish a broader conception of individual freedom within the state today. Their limitations arise from the failure of their theories to address the challenges posed by today's globalized and unequal society, driven by digital technology, due to their primary identification with the nation-state. Against this backdrop, the dissertation argues that only when freedom is understood as a transcendent value will it be comprehensive enough to tackle these contemporary issues that the social contract and Hegel's theories cannot address. Thus, the dissertation sees social contract freedom as the thesis, Hegel's communitarian freedom as the antithesis and transcendent freedom as the synthesis

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open access

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