Liberalism and contract theory: On morality of what we ought each other

Abstract

The article aims to elucidate the explanatory value of the social contract theory in relation to moral behavior or morality of what we owe each other. Thus, they present two related moments; on the one hand, some central points in the perspective of Thomas Hobbes, John Rawls and Thomas Scanlon, are compared, given that these have in common the idea of a rational agreement on principles for political action, i.e., they allow to highlight the characteristic of the moral subject as one who can identify reasons and guide their behaviour accordingly. This point o analysis is essential to the second part of the article, which identifies some gaps in the functioning of the rule of law.