ROUSSEAU S SOCIAL CONTRACT An Introduction If the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseau s Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banned in France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be the Newton of the moral world, as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read and debated in the 250 years since its publication. Rousseau s Social Contract : An Introduction offers a thorough and systematic tour of this notoriously paradoxical and challenging text. offers a chapter-by-chapter reading of the Social Contract, squarely confronting its interpretive obstacles, leaving no stones unturned. The conclusion connects Rousseau s text to both his important influences and those who took inspiration and sometimes exception to his arguments. The book also features a special extended appendix dedicated to outlining his general will, which has been the object of controversy since the Social Contract s publication. david lay williams is Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University and the author of Rousseau s Platonic Enlightenment (2007) and The General Will: The Evolution of a Concept (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press), as well as numerous articles in journals such as History of Political Thought, Journal of the History of Ideas, The Journal of Politics, the American Journal of Political Science, and Polity. He has twice held fellowships at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin Madison, as well as a fellowship at the DePaul Humanities Center. He was formerly Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.
cambridge introductions to key philosophical texts Th is new series offers introductory textbooks on what are considered to be the most important texts of Western philosophy. Each book guides the reader through the main themes and arguments of the work in question, while also paying attention to its historical context and its philosophical legacy. No philosophical background knowledge is assumed, and the books will be well suited to introductory-level university courses. Titles published in the series: ARISTOTLE S NICOMACHEAN ETHICS by Michael Pakaluk DESCARTES S MEDITATIONS by Catherine Wilson HEGEL S PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT by Larry Krasnoff HEIDEGGER S BEING AND TIME by Paul Gorner HUME S A TREATISE OF HUMAN NATURE by John P. Wright KANT S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON by Jill Vance Buroker KANT S GROUNDWORK OF THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS by Sally Sedgwick NIETZSCHE S ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY by Laurence J. Hatab RAWLS S A THEORY OF JUSTICE by John Mandle SPINOZA S ETHICS by Steven Nadler WITTGENSTEIN S PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS by David G. Stern WITTGENSTEIN S TRACTATUS by Alfred Nordmann
ROUSSEAU S SOCIAL CONTRACT An Introduction DAVID LAY WILLIAMS DePaul University
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: /9780521124447 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Williams, David Lay, 1969 Rousseau s social contract : an introduction /, DePaul University. pages cm. (Cambridge introductions to key philosophical texts) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-19755-7 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-12444-7 Paperback 1. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712 1778. Du contrat social. I. Title. jc179.r88w55 2014 320.1 1 dc23 CIP 2013008027 isbn 978-0-521-19755-7 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-12444-7 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
In Memory of Richard Taylor Williams, Sr.
Contents Acknowledgments Frequently Cited Works page xi xiii Introduction 1 1 Book I 26 2 Book II 64 3 Book III 107 4 Book IV 156 5 Conclusion 216 Appendix A. On the General Will 245 Appendix B. On Women in the Social Contract? 272 References 283 Index 301 ix
Acknowledgments One does not write a book like this without a good deal of assistance, and I have been fortunate to have received more than my fair share. I want to thank Nicholas Dent, Ryan Patrick Hanley, Christopher Kelly, Michael Locke McLendon, Ethan Putterman, Grace Roosevelt, Melissa Schwartzberg, and Matthew Simpson for sharing their expertise on Rousseau repeatedly in many unexpected and especially helpful ways. Daniel J. Kapust and Andrew Laird offered helpful insights on Roman politics, history, and culture when I was writing Chapter 4. A. P. Martinich patiently answered numerous inquiries on Thomas Hobbes. Nerissa Nelson and Alex Schmetzke were especially helpful and creative in assisting with various elements of this project at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point library. Jonathan Bloch, Alan J. Kellner, Matthew W. Maguire, Jonathan Marks, J. Rixey Ruffin, and an anonymous reader at Cambridge read this manuscript carefully, improving it significantly on myriad points. I would also like to thank Beatrice Rehl at Cambridge University Press for her confidence in and guidance on this project. I also greatly benefited from the support of numerous friends and colleagues, including Ken Abrams, Dave Arnold, Michael and Carey Cairo, Darren Carlton, David Chan, Polo Chen, Jennifer Collins, James Farr, Doug Forbes, Karin Fry, Mark Hawley, Tracy Hofer, Anna Law, Brad and Megan Mapes-Martins, Ed Miller, Steven Nadler, Sean Phillips, James and Toni Sage, Greg Summers, Frank Thames, Mick Veum, and Scott Wallace. I also am grateful for administrative support from John Blakeman, Chris Cirmo, Susan Friedman, Wayne Steger, Chuck Suchar, and D ô na Warren. Along these lines, I want to thank the departments of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin Madison, the DePaul Humanities Center, and the Department of Political Science at DePaul University for providing academic homes during the past few years in which I developed and completed this project. xi
xii Acknowledgments Since this book is intended to be accessible to students, I want to make a special point of thanking my own undergraduate political philosophy instructors, Gregg Franzwa, Richard Galvin, and Charles Lockhart, who introduced me to the field many years ago and patiently worked to polish a very rough stone. Along these lines, I also remain grateful to T. K. Seung and Patrick Riley, who continue to be sources of ideas and inspiration. My family has been especially supportive and patient. My in-laws, Larry and Julia Weiser, Maggie Weiser, Ken Stevenson, and Michael and Emily Weiser, have generously included me in their clan, even at the risk of discussing Rousseau over Thanksgiving dinner. My mother, Julianne Williams, and my aunt, Carol Fletcher, have been regular sources of love and support. My wife, Jen Weiser, tolerates me for reasons that continue to escape me, but for which I remain very grateful; and our son, Benjamin Williams, has been a welcome distraction from work and a constant source of joy. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to the memory of my father, Richard Taylor Williams, Sr., who passed away as I was completing the manuscript. It was only with that loss that I came to realize what first inclined me to study Rousseau. He was my original image of humanity s natural goodness, untouched by all corruption and entirely upright in his affairs. I will never understand why I should have been so lucky to have had him in my life, but I remain eternally grateful.
Frequently Cited Works Citations in this book are, wherever possible, to existing English translations of Rousseau s works. For scholarly use, each citation is accompanied in brackets by a corresponding reference to the authoritative French edition to Rousseau s complete works. All references to the Social Contract are in text for easy access, including reference to Book, Chapter, and paragraph numbers, as can be found in Victor Gourevitch s edition for Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought series. All other citations are in footnotes. In the footnotes, the following terms stand in for full titles: Confessions = The Confessions and Correspondence, Including the Letters to Malesherbes, ed. Christopher Kelly, Roger D. Masters, and Peter G. Stillman. Vol. 5 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Corsica = Plan for a Constitution for Corsica, ed. Christopher Kelly. In The Plan for Perpetual Peace, On the Government of Poland, and Other Writings on History and Politics, Vol. 11 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Dialogues = Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques: Dialogues, ed. Roger D. Masters and Christopher Kelly. Vol. 1 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Emile = Emile, or On Education. Trans. Allan Bloom. New York: Basic Books. First Discourse = Discourse on the Arts and Sciences. In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Government of Geneva = History of the Government of Geneva. In Letter to Beaumont, Letters Written from the Mountain, and Related Writings, ed. Christopher Kelly and Eve Grace. Vol. 9 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Hero = Discourse on This Question: What Is the Virtue a Hero Most Needs and Who Are the Heroes Who Have Lacked This Virtue? In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. xiii
xiv Frequently Cited Works Judgment = Judgment of the Plan for Perpetual Peace. In The Plan for Perpetual Peace, On the Government of Poland, and Other Writings on History and Politics, ed. Christopher Kelly. In Vol. 11 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Julie = Julie; Or, the New Heloise: Letters of Two Lovers Who Live in a Small Town at the Foot of the Alps. Trans. Philip Stewart and Jean Vach é. Vol. 6 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Last Reply = Last Reply by Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Geneva. In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Legal Profession = Response to the Anonymous Letter Written by Members of the Legal Profession. In Letter to d Alembert and Writings for the Theater, ed. Allan Bloom, Charles Butterworth, and Christopher Kelly. Vol. 10 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Letter to d Alembert = Letter to M. d Alembert on the Theater, trans. Allan Bloom. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Letter to Franqui è res = Letter from J. J. Rousseau to M. de Franqui è res, 25 March 1769. In The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Letter to Voltaire = Letter from J. J. Rousseau to M. de Voltaire, 18 August 1756. In The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Mountain = Letters Written from the Mountain. In Letter to Beaumont, Letters Written from the Mountain, and Related Writings, ed. Christopher Kelly and Eve Grace. Vol. 9 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Narcissus = Preface to Narcissus. In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Observations = Observations by Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Geneva on the Answer Made to His Discourse. In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Origin of Languages = Essay on the Origin of Languages in Which Something Is Said About Melody and Musical Imitation. In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Poland = Considerations on the Government of Poland. In The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Political Economy = Discourse on Political Economy. In The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Reveries = Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Reveries of the Solitary Walker. Trans. Charles E. Butterworth.
Frequently Cited Works SC = Of the Social Contract. Ed. Victor Gourevitch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Second Discourse = Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men. In The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Theatrical Imitation = On Theatrical Imitation: An Essay Drawn from Plato s Dialogues. In Essay on the Origin of Languages and Writings Related to Music, ed. John T. Scott. Vol. 7 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. Wealth = On Wealth and Fragments on Taste. In The Plan for Perpetual Peace, On the Government of Poland, and Other Writings on History and Politics, ed. Christopher Kelly. Vol. 11 of The Collected Writings of Rousseau. xv