Introduction to Rousseau: The Social Contract

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jean-jacques Rousseau wrote the social

contract in 1762 in France at a time of

great change the moral authority of

Kings and the church was being

continually questioned as was political

power in general and the world was

becoming less feudal and increasingly

global and commercial commenting on

man's condition in this changing world

Rousseau starts the social contract with

his famous lines man is born free and is

everywhere in chains in a discourse on

inequality Rousseau had argued that in a

state of nature man has two innate

impulses self-preservation what he calls

amour de soie which means love of self

and pity or a repugnance towards seeing

suffering in others he argues that in

the course of evolution man starts to

become civilized by comparing himself to

others through what equals

perfectibility essentially man's

capacity for mimicry and development by

copying others as man enters society

though this amour de soir the love of

self transforms into a more prop which

is a sense of his own self-worth this

stems from man learning from others but

simultaneously comparing himself to them

which diminishes is pity for others

modern society is defined by amour prop

to the detriment of man and so

everywhere he is in Chains comparing

himself to others at the beginning of

the social contract Rousseau considers

three ways of organizing society that

were part of eighteenth-century

orthodoxy natural Authority right of the

strongest and slavery many at the time

argued that rulers are like parents and

the ruled like children or that rulers

are naturally better suited to ruling

all that if these aren't the case maybe

the strong should rule just for the sake

of stability Rousseau makes a number of

arguments against these

that seemed obvious to the modern mind

that children become independent from

parents or that even the strong can't

rule with physical strength alone he

argues that all of these arguments have

been made after the fact that is they

have been made to justify the very state

of affairs that they argue for not the

other way around none of them fit the

idea of man in a state of nature with

just a love of self and pity for others

so he says that the only way a society

can be formed is by a covenant a pact a

social contract he argues that even if

people choose a leader a social pact

based on a prior agreement must have

already been in place to begin the

decision-making process this is the

basis of the social contract so the

question for Rousseau becomes how to

find a form of Association which will

defend the person and goods of each

member with the collective force of all

and under which each individual while

uniting himself with others a baised no

one but himself and remains as free as

before this is the perennial question of

political philosophy in entering a

political community of state you give up

part of your freedom and submit to laws

of the community

anarchists argued that this is never

justified

is it possible to prove that it is

Russo's answer he writes is in the total

alienation of each associate of himself

and all his rights to the whole

community he goes on to say that as

every individual gives himself

absolutely the conditions are the same

for all and precisely because they are

the same for all it's in no one's

interest to make the conditions onerous

for others for Rousseau no one gives up

their freedom for other individuals but

for the idea of an equal community the

community then is an abstract idea that

is part of the individual it is a

concept that the individual creates

rationally for himself Rousseau

conceptualizes a historical con

tribution to philosophy and psychology

this metaphysical community or society

is what Hegel describes as Geist and

what Freud takes inspiration from for

the super-ego it is arguably an inherent

part of our own psychology for Rousseau

this social contract should be organized

by his most famous concept the general

will it is this concept of a

metaphysical community directed by the

general will that his sovereign not a

king or a parliament in a small

community each individual will be

motivated by his amour de soir and his

pity for others in a community of equals

none will be motivated by the corrosive

effects of amour prop as comparing

himself to others Rousseau is not

talking about equality of property but

equality of citizenship and direct

democracy that you have property on the

basis that is afforded to you by the

community the community protects your

individual rights not the other way

around to act morally than is to act in

accordance with the general will of the

community rather than one's own

particular individual will for Rousseau

giving up the freedom of natural Liberty

leads to a greater civil liberty politic

should be judged on this basis and leads

Rousseau to one of his most infamous

phrases if an individual does not act in

accordance with the general will which

remember according to Rousseau would be

rational for them to do so then they

should be forced to be free this general

will is worked out by the simple

debating and voting of an issue but

importantly each person should be

directly involved in the process and so

Rousseau advocates small states and

direct democracy where interest groups

and factionalism would be banned

Rousseau's fundamental belief was that

society should be homogeneous which has

led many to accuse him of being one of

the intellectual sources for

totalitarianism and

hurt him at odds with liberals at the

time like Voltaire and Montesquieu

Rousseau then is most aptly described as

a communitarian thinker rather than a

liberal obsessed with high individuals

societies and himself could lead

cohesive authentic lives he argued that

in an increasingly individualistic

society everyone pretends to be working

for the others profits or reputation

while only seeking to raise his own

above them and at their expense it's a

world where sincere friendship real

esteem and perfect confidence are

banished from among men jealousy

suspicion fear coldness reserved hate

and fraud like constantly concealed

Russo's influence and reputation is

totemic

he was a leading contributor to the

philosophy of the Enlightenment and had

a major effect on the causes in the

course of the French Revolution which is

arguably the defining moment in the

creation of modern Europe and in some

way he's influenced almost every

philosopher who came after him

ultimately the question in judging

Rousseau is whether you buy into these

fundamental observations about human

nature about pity if you don't then the

rest of the social contract is unlikely

to be convincing if you like these

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