Open Philosophy LibraryThe Social Contract
The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract asks how political authority can be legitimate while citizens remain free. Rousseau develops the social pact, popular sovereignty, the general will, law, government and civil religion across four books. He argues that force creates no right and that lawful authority must express a common political commitment among equals. This edition uses Henry J. Tozer's public-domain translation, first published in 1895, and contains Rousseau's prefatory material and all forty-eight chapters.
About this work
The Social Contract develops Rousseau's account of legitimate political association. Human beings cannot rightfully be governed through force, conquest or inherited mastery. The social pact creates a community in which each person enters on equal terms and participates in sovereign law-making.
Rousseau distinguishes the general will, directed towards common interest, from an aggregate of private desires. Sovereignty belongs to the citizens collectively and cannot be transferred to representatives. Government remains an executive instrument rather than the source of law.
Across four books Rousseau examines freedom, property, legislation, democracy, aristocracy, monarchy, assemblies, voting, emergency power, censorship and civil religion. His theory profoundly influenced republican and democratic thought while provoking enduring questions about coercion, dissent and political unity.
This complete reading edition uses Henry J. Tozer's public-domain translation, first published in 1895, from the revised 1898 printing.