SOCIETY IN THE LENS OF ROUSSEAU’S SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

Perspectives in Social Contract Theory, 2018

The primary focus of this paper is the issue of the formation of the citizen in the Rousseau’s social contract theory. To begin with I examine the anthropological basis of Rousseau’s political ideas. These are based on the conception of the natural human being. In the state of nature, human beings are simple, free and solitary. Their spiritual faculties are not yet developed. With the concept of perfectibility, Rousseau states that human beings are not fixed to a single model of development, but that they can adapt to different forms. Following I provide an analysis of the intentions of Rousseau’s social contract, i.e. the construction of a free and equal society. According to Rousseau, the social contract gives rise to a political body whose general will must be expressed through laws directed towards the common good. Here the civil freedom of the individual finds its accomplishment. But the distance between one’s own will and the general will still remain an open issue, with the risk of invalidating the project of the social contract. Thirdly, I discuss the civil education of the citizen, which is an instrument for overcoming the worry of the distance between one’s own will and the general will. The purpose of this kind of education is to create a particular will that adjusts itself to the general one without dissonance. In conclusion I look at the set of problems posited by this kind of education with regard to the extent of freedom in the Rousseau’s social contract theory. ISBN 9781565183315 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001948

2014

If the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseau's Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banished from France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be “the Newton of the moral world,” as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read in the 250 years since it was written. Rousseau's “Social Contract”: An Introduction offers a thorough and systematic tour of this notoriously paradoxical and challenging text. David Lay Williams offers readers a chapter-by-chapter reading of the Social Contract, squarely confronting these interpretive obstacles, leaving no stones unturned. The conclusion connects Rousseau's text both to his important influences and those who took inspiration and sometimes exception to his arguments. The book also features a special extended appendix dedicated to outlining his famous conception of the general will, which has been the object of controversy since the Social Contract's publication.

A government is 1 a group of people who control and make decisions for a country, state, etc. If it is as defined then it inevitably takes away the free will of man. If the government takes away even the slightest bit of man's freedom then why should we recognize it yet alone be governed by it? Societies are usually formed to make living with other people much more viable, but who should be the one to make decisions for the society as a whole?

This paper evaluates the social contract theory from the view point of Jean Jacques Rousseau and applies the relevance to contemporary society. It is found that the social contract theorists traced the origin of the state to a social contract by individuals after an experience from the state of nature. Rousseau's state of nature initially guaranteed freedom and good life for the individuals until the institution of private property ushered injustices that called for an organized or civil society mainly to protect lives and property. He considered property as the root cause of moral corruption and injustice which made the individual to loose his freedom. Rousseau argues that property had to be controlled by the General Will which was the universal law that regained man's freedom and liberty in the civil society. Incidentally, Rousseau's ideas have been found relevant such that this paper recommends for its application to governance or administration of modern states. There should be willingness of the leaders, who are involved in this kind of contract with citizens, to ensure adequate provision of the basic needs and security for the citizens.

It is absolutely reasonable to posit that Jean Jacques Rousseau's concept of the general will should govern the exercise of political power in a society because the most important facets that a political system must ensure to its people, rely upon a duty to the common good for the constituency. The most fundamental social problems in the world today, come as a result of a lack of devotion to the common good, and therefore the absence of an active political employment of the general will. Additionally, Rousseau's general will, while difficult to ascertain, does act as a means to freedom, despite its anti-individualist nature, while promoting moral and common good. In this paper I will counter several critiques against a polity's plausible necessary enactment of the general will by drawing upon philosophical texts and various exemplars.

Goodreads.com, 2018

This review discusses Rousseau's concepts of social contract and general will in his work "The Social Contract" and contrasts those views with the constitutional principles of representation and individual rights found in the United States and other democratic republics.

Social contract theory, almost as vintage as philosophy itself, is the view that personsè thical and/or political duties are established upon a settlement or settlement amongst them to shape the society wherein they live. it is properly related to cutting-edge moral and political guidelines and is given, to begin with, total composition and security using the way implied by Thomas Hobbes. After Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are the quality recognized defenders of this fantastically compelling guideline, which has been one of the greatest overwhelming speculations of interior moral and political guidelines for the term of the records of the cutting-edge West. Within the 20th century, moral and political thought recaptured philosophical force since John Rawls` Kantian demonstration of social settlement thought and turned into went with the help utilizing modern examinations of the circumstance with the help of utilizing David Gauthier and others. More as of late, rationalists from exceptional sees have displayed modern reactions to social settlement thought. In specific, women's activists and raceaware rationalists have contended that social settlement thought is at least an inadequate photo of our moral and political lives, and might in truth camouflage a number of the approaches wherein the settlement is itself parasitical upon the subjugations of informational of people. Historically, we might not have ever been in a nation of nature, however agreement theorists use this concept to provide an explanation for why regulations for society, an agreement, are desirable. It lets us peacefully stay collectively with the guarantee that no person can sincerely damage us or take our belongings without consequence. Contract theorists argue that maximum human beings might freely input right into an agreement to steady those benefits. Social contract theory conveys that people remain collectively in society agreeing with a settlement that sets up moral and political approaches to behavior. A few people believe that in case we remain in line with a social understanding, we are ready to remain ethically with the help of utilizing our exceptionally possessed craving and presently not due to the truth a divine calling for it.