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Contractarianism
Contractarianism holds that moral rules are the ones people would agree to as a fair bargain for living together.
Summary
- It comes from the social contract tradition of Thomas Hobbes.
- A related idea comes from John Rawls, who asked what rules people would choose from behind a veil of ignorance, without knowing whether they would be rich or poor, healthy or ill.
- The NHS is sometimes described as a social contract, in which everyone pays in through tax and anyone can draw on it when ill.
Interview questions
- What is a social contract?
- What kind of health system would you design if you did not know how healthy or wealthy you would be?
- Do patients have duties to the NHS as well as rights?
Practise answering these with a mentor
Our interview preparation has you answer questions like these out loud, with feedback on each answer.
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More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.