contractarianism means the political doctrine that the legitimacy of a government derives from a (normally unstated) contract between the government and the people (normally derived from an election). It carries an Arena rating of 1188, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, contractarianism ranks #200 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,102 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #4,642 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #7,754 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
Why “contractarianism” is a great word
Contractarianism is the political and ethical doctrine that legitimate authority and moral obligation arise from a hypothetical or actual agreement between rational individuals. From contractarian (pertaining to a social contract theorist) + -ism (denoting a system or doctrine). Unlike utilitarianism, which justifies acts by their net contribution to aggregate happiness, or natural law theory, which derives principles from inherent human nature or divine order, contractarianism grounds right in reasoned consensus. It is the imagined murmur of voices in a primordial wilderness negotiating mutual forbearance, the dry scrape of a pen on parchment signing away a degree of natural liberty for civic peace, and the persistent, ghostly echo of a promise no one remembers making but everyone is bound to keep—a philosophical architecture built not on sand or stone, but on a consensual whisper.
Etymology
From contractarian + -ism.
noun
- The political doctrine that the legitimacy of a government derives from a (normally unstated) contract between the government and the people (normally derived from an election)
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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