WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SOCIAL CONTRACT (OR NEGATIVE Essay

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SOCIAL CONTRACT (OR NEGATIVE FREEDOM)MODEL OF THE STATE AND HEGEL'S OWN MODEL OF IT - Essay Example The State is the form of expression of the people in an objective form that exists for them as knowers. Therefore possession under such a model of State would mean that property would belong to a person only to the extent recognized by others, and is a part of man’s struggle for recognition.(Hegel 439). The Hegelian model holds that the highest values and best traditions of a society can be politically embodied and expressed by the State. For Hegel, the State is universally altruistic, hence the interests of the State transcend those of the individual, because it is a means for a group of individuals to relate to each other out of a common will to live with other human beings in a community. (Avineri 134). The State is the ultimate embodiment of the amalgamation of the rational laws that govern a people and their subjective wills. The Social Contract Model is also founded upon the premise of recognition by others, however it is based upon those principles of social justice which individuals would adopt voluntarily in the absence of self interest. It does not view the State as the all encompassing, highest political expression of human interest; rather the laws that govern the State are formulated on the basis of principles that are commonly agreed to among people. In adopting principles to establish and govern their social institutions, certain limits will be set on individual freedom in order to ensure justice to everyone. However, within this framework, the model is formulated, consisting of initial conditions, the bargaining situation with actual proposals and the resulting social contract.(Rummel, 1981). Rawls articulates these principles of formulation of the State on the basis of social contract as follows: â€Å"No society can of course, be a scheme of cooperation which people enter voluntarily in a literal sense; †¦.yet a society satisfying the principles of justice as fairness comes as close as a society can to being a voluntary