This article is about Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1762 treatise. For "social contract" as a political and philosophical concept, see Social contract. For other uses, see Social Contract (disambiguation).
The Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right
Title page of the first octavo edition
Author
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Original title
Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit politique
Country
France (edited in Amsterdam)
Language
French
Publication date
1762
Original text
Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit politique at French Wikisource
Translation
The Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right at Wikisource
The Social Contract, originally published as On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right (French: Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit politique), is a 1762 French-language book by the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The book theorizes about how to establish legitimate authority in a political community, that is, one compatible with individual freedom, in the face of the problems of commercial society, which Rousseau had already identified in his Discourse on Inequality (1755).
The Social Contract helped inspire political reforms or revolutions in Europe, especially in France. The Social Contract argued against the idea that monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate. Rousseau asserts that only the general will of the people has the right to legislate, for only under the general will can the people be said to obey only themselves and hence be free. Although Rousseau's notion of the general will is subject to much interpretive controversy, it seems to involve a legislature consisting of all adult members of the political community who are restricted to legislating general laws for the common good.
and 21 Related for: The Social Contract information
thesocialcontract is an idea, theory or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual...
TheSocialContract, originally published as On theSocialContract; or, Principles of Political Right (French: Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit...
New SocialContract (Dutch: Nieuw Sociaal Contract, [niu soːˈʃaːl kɔnˈtrɑkt]; NSC) is a political party in the Netherlands launched and led by Pieter Omtzigt...
Principal–agent problem Quasi-contract Restitution Sharia#Civil cases Smart contractSocialcontract Standard form contract Stipulation Tortious interference...
TheSocialContract Press (SCP) is an American publisher of white nationalist and anti-immigrant literature. It is a program of U.S. Inc., a foundation...
Jean-Jacques Rousseau discourses at length in his classic work TheSocialContract). Originally the term "socialist" was often used interchangeably with "co-operative"...
which he shows that, although it is conventional to represent the socialcontract moral and political theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques...
A New SocialContract (Dutch: Een nieuw sociaal contract) is a manifesto written by Dutch politician Pieter Omtzigt with a contribution by philosopher...
In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. Characteristics of social organization can...
inalienable and universal liberties had to wait until the Age of Enlightenment. Thesocialcontract theory, most influentially formulated by Hobbes, John...
(1740); Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (1748); Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality (1754) and TheSocialContract (1762); Cesare Beccaria's On Crimes...
bond (Australia), social outcomes contract (UK), social impact partnership (Europe), social impact contract (Europe), or simply a social bond, is a form...
ethics, political philosophy, socialcontract theory, religion, and international law, the term state of nature describes the hypothetical way of life that...
empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, Locke is equally important to socialcontract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology...
and the resolution of conflict. Also, thesocialcontract requires that an individual gives up some of his natural rights in order to maintain social order...
establishment of a socialcontract, positive law, and government – and thus legal rights – in the form of classical republicanism. Conversely, the concept of...
whether a piece of software can be included in Debian. The DFSG is part of the Debian SocialContract. Free redistribution. Inclusion of source code. Allowing...
it is based upon social justice." In the later 20th century, social justice was made central to the philosophy of thesocialcontract, primarily by John...
credited with founding liberalism as a distinct tradition based on thesocialcontract, arguing that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property...
Global Information