The Social Contract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Wordsworth Editions, 1998 - Philosophy - 139 pages

With an Introduction by Derek Matravers.

In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will.

Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between society and the individual, while others have seen it as nothing less than a blueprint for totalitarianism. The Social Contract is not only one of the great defences of civil society, it is also unflinching in its study of the darker side of political systems.

Contents

• Prefatory Note: 2
• Introductory Note: 3
• BOOK ONE I Subject of the First Book: 5
• Primitive Societies: 6
• The Right of the Strongest: 8
• Slavery: 9
• That it is Always Necessary to go Back to a First Convention: 13
• The Social Pact: 14
• The Sovereign: 17
• The Civil State: 19
• Real Property: 21
• BOOK TWO I That Sovereignty is Inalienable: 25
• That Sovereignty is Indivisible: 27
• Whether the General Will Can Err: 29
• The Limits of the Sovereign Power: 31
• The Right of Life and Death: 35
• The Law: 37
• The Legislator: 40
• The People: 44
• The People continued: 46
• The People continued: 49
• The Different Systems of Legislation: 52
• Division of the Laws: 54
• BOOK THREE I Government in General: 57
• The Principle which Constitutes the Different Forms of Government: 62
• Classification of Governments: 65
• Democracy: 67
• Aristocracy: 69
• Monarchy: 72
• Mixed Governments: 77
• That Every Form of Government is Not Fit for Every Country: 79
• The Marks of a Good Government: 84
• The Abuse of the Government and its Tendency to Degenerate: 86
• The Dissolution of the Body Politic: 89
• How the Sovereign Authority is Maintained: 91
• How the Sovereign Authority is Maintained continued: 92
• How the Sovereign Authority is Maintained continued: 94
• Deputies or Representatives: 95

About the author

Jean Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss philosopher and political theorist who lived much of his life in France. Many reference books describe him as French, but he generally added "Citizen of Geneva" whenever he signed his name. He presented his theory of education in Emile (1762), a novel, the first book to link the educational process to a scientific understanding of children; Rousseau is thus regarded as the precursor, if not the founder, of child psychology. "The greatest good is not authority, but liberty," he wrote, and in The Social Contract (1762) Rousseau moved from a study of the individual to an analysis of the relationship of the individual to the state: "The art of politics consists of making each citizen extremely dependent upon the polis in order to free him from dependence upon other citizens." This doctrine of sovereignty, the absolute supremacy of the state over its members, has led many to accuse Rousseau of opening the doors to despotism, collectivism, and totalitarianism. Others say that this is the opposite of Rousseau's intent, that the surrender of rights is only apparent, and that in the end individuals retain the rights that they appear to have given up. In effect, these Rousseau supporters say, the social contract is designed to secure or to restore to individuals in the state of civilization the equivalent of the rights they enjoyed in the state of nature. Rousseau was a passionate man who lived in passionate times, and he still stirs passion in those who write about him today.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Social Contract; Classics of World Literature; Wordsworth classics of world literature
• Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Translated by: Henry John Tozer
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 1998
• ISBN: 1853267813, 9781853267819
• Length: 139 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern; Philosophy / Political; Political Science / History & Theory