Abstract

This study analyses central concepts and arguments of Hume’s critique of the social contract theory, mainly presented in the Essay “Of the Original Contract” published in 1748. Hume’s work is interpreted here in broader perspective as an anti-voluntaristic argument in political philosophy that helped to form and cause the transition from natural law to utilitarianism in later British enlightenment. Therefore on the one hand the critical notions of consent and political obligation and on the other hand Hume’s carefully considered arguments will be referred to their historical background in modern natural law theory proposed by Grotius, Pufendorf, Locke and others from the seventeenth century onwards. The strong influence of Hume’s critique on the next generation of enlightened philosophers will become as understandable as the historical acuteness of his reflections.