Back to TGE 1257 - Ethics in Applied Technology

Part 4.5: Ethical Excavations (Social Contracts)

Authors: Clayn D. Lambert
License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Topic Outcomes

By the end of Part 4, you should be able to:

  • Excavate existing social contract patterns in your personal reasoning

  • Analyze origins and development of your agreement-focused thinking

  • Navigate tensions between social contract and other reasoning approaches

  • Apply archaeological analysis method to discover rather than learn framework concepts

  • Integrate social contract insights into your ongoing conflict map through citations and addenda

Topic Summary

Excavate Existing Social Contract Patterns in Personal Reasoning

Students will identify where fairness-based, agreement-focused, and reciprocity-centered thinking already appears in their ethical decision-making.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Recognizes existing focus on mutual agreements and fair exchanges rather than individual virtue or universal duties

  • Identifies personal assumptions about legitimate authority and consensual obligations

  • Discovers unconscious reciprocity-based considerations in decision-making patterns

  • Maps where fairness-focused reasoning conflicts with outcome-based or character-based approaches

Analyze Origins and Development of Social Contract Thinking

Students will trace how their agreement-focused reasoning patterns developed through personal experience and cultural influences.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Connects fairness-based patterns to democratic experiences, group decisions, or formative social situations

  • Explains how focus on mutual consent and reciprocity might have been shaped by personal history

  • Identifies sources of their approach to legitimate authority and collective decision-making

  • Recognizes environmental or experiential factors that encouraged agreement-based thinking

Navigate Tensions Between Social Contract and Other Reasoning Patterns

Students will explore conflicts between fairness-based thinking and individual rights, outcome-maximizing, or virtue-focused approaches in their reasoning.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Identifies specific conflicts between collective agreements and individual autonomy or moral principles

  • Explores tensions between original position reasoning and existing power structures

  • Recognizes where social contract logic conflicts with utilitarian calculations or deontological imperatives

  • Analyzes situations where consensus-seeking feels insufficient or excludes legitimate voices

Apply Archaeological Analysis Method to Philosophical Framework

Students will use AI-guided excavation to discover rather than learn about social contract concepts, treating themselves as the primary source.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Maintains focus on personal reasoning patterns rather than theoretical knowledge

  • Uses AI to probe for hidden fairness assumptions and reciprocity expectations

  • Engages in genuine discovery of existing patterns rather than confirmation of framework

  • Demonstrates honest assessment of social contract presence (or absence) in their thinking

Integrate Social Contract Analysis into Ongoing Conflict Map

Students will add social contract insights to their developing understanding of personal ethical complexity through citations and addendum creation.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Creates social contract addendum that identifies specific patterns and tensions

  • Adds citations to existing conflict map indicating agreement-based reasoning

  • Updates understanding of ethical complexity based on social contract excavation

  • Builds cumulative analysis that integrates multiple philosophical perspectives

Topic Sources

Topic Authors

Clayn D. Lambert