Introduction to Rousseau: The Social Contract
[Music]
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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