Abstract

This study explores a question of the tenability of capital punishment within the framework of social contract theory. In this connection, the theories of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Rawls, and Gauthier are examined and all of them are found to be fundamentally incompatible with an affirmative stance on capital punishment. During the course of the study, specific arguments for the death penalty receive attention, including those advanced by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, as well as those advanced on behalf of Rawls by others, and on behalf of Hobbes by Gauthier. All of these are rejected. Finally, an attempt is made to provide a general solution to the central question of the study, and here, the conclusion is reached that any social contract theory based on hypothetical consent would be fundamentally incompatible with use of the death penalty