CE/EE 3161 UTD Practice Test

In Social Contract theory, the rules that a society adopts are seen as legitimate to the extent that they protect the basic rights of individuals, and enforcement exists to uphold those rights. The statement reflects this idea directly: adopted rules are enforced to safeguard the members’ rights, which is the central purpose of the contract—creating a cooperative order where rights are secured and violations are addressed.

Why this fits best: under social contract thinking, authority and laws gain legitimacy from the agreement among individuals to form a society in which rights are protected. Enforcement is the mechanism that ensures those protections are real in practice.

Why the other ideas don’t fit as well: rules arising from absolute authority without change contradict the consent-based basis of legitimacy; aiming to maximize total happiness aligns more with utilitarian viewpoints than with protecting individual rights as such; tradition without regard to rights misses the contract’s emphasis on safeguarding personal liberties and justice through agreed-upon rules.