The Social Contract

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.” 

Rousseau draws a distinction between the natural state of humanity and its present (western) condition living in restrictive monarchies. The question of how to build a society that encourages happiness and prosperity without infringing too strongly on natural liberty is Rousseau’s chief preoccupation. According to Rousseau, the “freedom” enjoyed in monarchies by the nobility and even the monarchs themselves is illusory because it is dependent on maintaining an artificial position of strength that may be challenged from within or without, rather than on a legitimate social contract.

“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.”

Much of The Social Contract is written in response to philosophers like Niccolò Machiavelli whose “might makes right” doctrine suggests that a monarch’s legitimacy is secured by virtue of their strength and absolute power. Rousseau rejects this notion, arguing that obedience to strength is mere self-preservation, not an expression of will, morality, or duty.

“All power comes from God, I admit; but so does all sickness: does that mean that we are forbidden to call in the doctor?” 

Rousseau further interrogates the idea that power and strength, in and of themselves, must be yielded to as a matter of moral duty. It matters little, he adds, that monarchical power—like all power—stems from God, given that pain and sickness also come from God. Rousseau likens monarchical strength to the strength of a robber who holds a person up at gunpoint; the victim may yield to the robber to protect their life, but they do not do so out of conscience or duty.