INVESTIGADORES
VENEZIA Luciano Javier
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The Hobbesian Analysis of Promises and Contracts Made under Coercion or Duress: a Critique
Autor/es:
VENEZIA, LUCIANO
Lugar:
Bernal y Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Jornada; Jornadas de Filosofía Política y Legal UNQ-UTDT; 2012
Institución organizadora:
Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes y Escuela de Derecho, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
Resumen:
Hobbes´s ideas on contracts and promises are extremely
counter-intuitive. Surely actions made under coercion or duress are not
fully voluntary in the required normative sense, which would explain
why they are not morally binding. However, important scholars--notably
Claire Finkelstein--have recently written important essays on this
topic trying to find a way of understanding whay sort of theory would
be required in order to make sense, if not to defend, Hobbes´s theory,
at least in some contexts. Thus, according to what I call in this
paper the "Hobbesian" analysis of promises and contracts made under
coercion or duress, it is not just a psychological fact that agents
feel bound by agreements reached under coercion or duress; according
to the Hobbesian theory they have a genuine moral obligation to act as
they have promised or consented to. In this paper, I analyze both
Hobbes´s arguments to ground such a claim via a particular
understanding of agency and voluntariness. I also take into
consideration some points introduced by Finkelstein to make Hobbes´s
view less counterintuitive. My conclusion is that the Hobbesian
attempt to rationally ground the claim that contracts and promises
made under coercion or duress are in many cases voluntary in the
required sense and therefore that they may be binding does not really
succeed.