The Social Contract

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains”
Rousseau
Discourse on Inequality The Social Contract

State of Nature
• “Nature lays her commands on every animal, and the brute obeys hervoice. Man receives the same impulsion, but at the same time knows himself at liberty to acquiesce or resist” • Lack of relation to rest of man. • Noble Savage. • Ignorance. • Discuss.

State of War• “Men, from the mere fact that, while they are living in their primitive independence, they have no mutual relations stable enough to constitute either the state of peace or the state of war.” • “Warthen is a relation, not between man and man, but between State and State.” • Discuss.

Self-Preservation and Compassion
• Two basic principles prior to reason. • Naturally men form relations usingthese two principles. • Egoism (amour propre) vs. altruism. • Discuss.

Freedom
• Natural Freedom. • Civil Freedom. • Change of concept of what freedom means to men as they enter society. •Freedom ended when the concept of society began. • Property limits freedom. • Discuss.

Dependence and Needs
• As men specialize they begin to develop new needs that arise from the formation of society.• As society develops, men become dependant on each other and ultimately lead to their own destruction. • Communication. • Market; trade. • Morals. • Leisure. • Discuss.

Civil Society
• Man’scondition changed from freedom to servitude as society progressed. • The basis for civil society is the social contract.
▫ Need for an agreement stating mutual preservation.

• Discuss.Sociopolitical Structure
• Important concepts:
▫ Sovereign ▫ Executive ▫ General will vs. Will of all

• Sovereign is to reflect the interest of the General Will. • Discuss.

Authority
• • • • Naturalauthority does not exist. Except that a father over his son. It is a need men have created in society. This does not extend naturally to a ruler and his subjects. • Legitimate authority is a...