JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
FREEDOM, EQUALITY, AND THE GENERAL WILL

12 January 2026

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1. The Problem Rousseau Was Trying To Solve

Rousseau was not primarily worried about chaos, nor merely about tyranny.
He was worried about corruption.

Not corruption in the narrow legal sense, but moral and social corruption.
How societies deform human beings.

His question was stark:
How can people live together without losing their freedom?

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2. Human Nature According To Rousseau

Rousseau’s view of human nature is radically different from Hobbes and Locke.

In the state of nature, humans are:

• Peaceful
• Independent
• Compassionate
• Largely equal

They are not rational calculators or violent competitors.
They are simple beings with basic needs and a natural sense of pity.

Conflict emerges not from human nature, but from society itself.

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3. The Origin Of Inequality

For Rousseau, the turning point is property.

The famous line captures it:

“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, thought of saying ‘This is mine’… was the true founder of civil society.”

Property creates comparison.
Comparison creates pride.
Pride creates inequality, envy, and domination.

Civilisation does not refine us.
It deforms us.

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4. The Social Contract: A Collective Act

Rousseau’s social contract is not a surrender to authority.

It is a transformation.

Each individual agrees to:

• Unite with others
• Form a collective body
• Submit to laws they prescribe to themselves

In doing so, individuals lose natural freedom but gain civil freedom.

They obey the law, but the law is their own.

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5. The General Will

This is Rousseau’s most controversial idea.

The general will is not the sum of individual desires.
It is the collective interest aimed at the common good.

It expresses what citizens would choose if they set aside private advantage.

When laws reflect the general will:

• They are legitimate
• They bind everyone equally
• They preserve freedom

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6. Freedom Through Obedience

Rousseau’s paradox is deliberate.

True freedom does not mean doing whatever one wants.
It means living under laws one has collectively authored.

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”

The task of politics is to reconcile those two facts.

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7. Equality As A Political Requirement

For Rousseau, freedom is impossible without equality.

Extreme inequality makes genuine consent meaningless.
Those who depend on others cannot be free.

Therefore:

• Economic extremes must be restrained
• Power must not concentrate
• Citizenship must be active

This is not liberal individualism.
It is civic republicanism.

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8. The Danger In Rousseau

Rousseau knew his ideas were dangerous.

If the general will is claimed by:

• Elites
• Parties
• Leaders

Then it becomes tyranny disguised as virtue.

Forcing people to be “free” is the dark edge of his philosophy.

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9. Rousseau Compared To Hobbes And Locke

Hobbes trades freedom for order.
Locke trades power for rights.
Rousseau trades individuality for collective freedom.

Hobbes fears violence.
Locke fears tyranny.
Rousseau fears inequality and alienation.

Each solves a different problem.
Each creates a different risk.

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10. Rousseau In The Modern World

Rousseau’s legacy is everywhere:

• Democratic sovereignty
• Popular legitimacy
• Nationalism and revolution
• Collective moral language

He inspires both emancipation and authoritarianism.

Rousseau does not offer comfort.
He offers a challenge.

Can a society be both free and equal —
without becoming coercive in the name of virtue?

That question remains unanswered.