From the social contract or principles of constitutional law

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Cover of the first edition Amsterdam, 1762

The social contract or principles of political law ( French: Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique ) is the main political-theoretical work of the Geneva philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau . It first appeared in Amsterdam in 1762 and was immediately banned in France, the Netherlands, Geneva and Bern.

Alongside Montesquieu's On the Spirit of Laws , this work is a key work of the Enlightenment philosophy . Together with the latter, the social contract can be seen as a pioneer of modern democracy and democratic theory , although to this day it also offers countless points of contact for other political ideas and schools of thought (compare identity theory ).

For Rousseau, the sole basis of legitimate political power could only be the general will ( volonté générale ) (which always aims at the common good ) and in no way consist in divine right . The influence of this work on the French Revolution can hardly be denied, as it is later clearly recognizable, for example, in the radical thinking of Maximilien de Robespierre . Later, sociology , legal and political philosophy took up many of his questions, so that Rousseau z. B. may also count among the protosociologists .

classification

Rousseau's work is based on three basic assumptions:

  1. The prerequisite for human community (French l'état civil ) is - in contrast to humans in a natural state (French l'état de nature ) - a contract (French pacte social ).
  2. The basis of this contract is the 'common will' (French: volonté générale ), which does not correspond to the sum of the individual interests, but is absolute. It starts with everyone and aims for the good of all. Public will and justice coincide in Rousseau. They have their common origin in reason and are mutual.
  3. All submit to this contract voluntarily. Since the common will is infallible, the voluntary consent of all is self-evident.

The Enlightenment Rousseau writes mainly with his concept of volonté générale the transcendental state philosophy of Plato continues (see theory of ideas ). His draft of an ideal state differs so radically from the political reality of the Ancien Régime that the immediate ban on his writing is in no way surprising. The explosive power lies mainly in the fact that he does not undertake to justify the constitutional monarchy , as Locke and Montesquieu tried to do. Rousseau built his utopian community on the principle of universal correctness, which is called volonté générale . It has its validity beyond the rights and privileges of the nobility and royalty. Rousseau's approach to identitarian democracy is diametrically opposed to the representation principle of Anglo-Saxon democracy theories . If Rousseau is about the general will, behind which the idea is hidden that there is a common good that is equally useful to all members of society, then the modern conception of democracy is opposed to this idea insofar as it is an understanding of Democracy in the sense of competing perceptions and interests goes (see also competition theory: James Madison , Joseph Schumpeter ).

Contents first book

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Presentation of the remaining three books - Albatrossin 17:19, Dec. 12, 2007 (CET)
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The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789: the French Revolution as a result of the influence of the social contract?

In the first book , Rousseau first explains the aim of his work: He wants to find out whether there are “legitimate and safe principles of government”. In the first chapter he denies that an allegedly natural inequality between people justifies the political power of one over the other: “One considers himself to be the master of the other and yet remains more slave than they. How did this change come about? I dont know. What can give it legitimacy? I think I can answer this question. "

Rousseau formulates the task that he sets himself with his work as follows: “Find a form of union that defends and protects the person and the property of each individual member with all its common strength and through which everyone, by interacting with everyone united, only obeying oneself and remaining just as free as before. "

The social contract is a fundamental prerequisite for his argumentation: a lot of people, until now staying in the so-called state of nature (here Rousseau orientates himself on the explanations of John Locke in the Two Treatises of Government ), form a community, since the advantages outweigh this together by giving up their natural freedom, which they had until then, in favor of a social order. The social contract ultimately means "the complete alienation of each member with all his rights to the community as a whole". A public person emerges, the Polis . This community represents an inseparable whole. Each member of this community is committed in two respects: on the one hand as a member of the sovereign vis-à-vis the individual and on the other hand as a member of the state vis-à-vis the sovereign.

For a better understanding, Rousseau now first cites the terms used: A city is simply used to describe a building, while the polis (or republic or state corporation) refers to the citizens of a city. The members call the polis, when they are passive, the state ; when they are active, however, sovereign . The totality of the members is called a people , the individual - if he can actively participate - a citizen . If he is passively subject to the laws of the state, he is a subject .

The sovereign represents a body in which none of its members can be injured without attacking it itself, likewise the body cannot be attacked without its members being aware of this. This relationship forces each individual member as such and as a member of the whole to maintain the corporation.

This means that there can be no conflicting interest to the corporate body, and so a guarantee of the sovereign to the subjects is unnecessary. If, however, a member decides not to fulfill the duties that are due to him as a citizen, but to use the privileges, this means the downfall of the political body. Rousseau draws the conclusion from this example that the corporation is entitled to force this member to act in the common good "which means nothing other than that he is forced to be free".

Rousseau differentiates between natural freedom "which finds its limits only in the strength of the individual" and civil freedom "which is limited by the common will and property": with the preservation of civil liberty, the person receives a right The loss of natural freedom in everything he possesses means the loss of the associated right to everything he desires and can get.

The right of ownership to real property arises with the introduction of the social contract and on the basis of the right of a first owner: If a person's share is fixed, he has this and no further claim to the community. His share is defined by the right that he must have everything “what he needs”.

Rousseau defines the justification of the right of a first owner with the corresponding remarks by Locke:

  1. The area to be occupied is not already inhabited,
  2. you only take as much as you need for maintenance, and
  3. one takes possession of the area through work and cultivation (especially since this is the only form of ownership).

In the state corporation, all property is transferred to the sovereign, and the individual is regarded as the administrator of the common property. The individual has, as it were, ceded his property to the public and thus to himself and is acquiring it again under different auspices, but on advantageous terms, since the area is now jointly defended.

In conclusion to the first book, Rousseau remarks that "moral and legal equality" does not destroy natural equality, but rather helps people who differ in strength and talent to achieve equality "through contract and law". Rousseau is of the opinion that reason only has a chance to assert itself in the middle class.

literature

expenditure

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: You contrat social ou Principes du droit politique . From the social contract or principles of constitutional law. French German. In: Reclam's Universal Library . tape 18682 . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-15-018682-4 .
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The social contract or principles of constitutional law . marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-86539-192-6 .
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The social contract or the principles of constitutional law . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-50905-X .
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Social Contract . Text-critical edition, 2nd improved edition . Dr. Klaus Fischer Verlag, Schutterwald 2018, ISBN 978-3-946764-03-8 .

Secondary literature

Web links

Remarks

Jean-Marie Tremblay

  1. ↑ “Il s'ensuit de ce qui précède que la volonté générale est toujours droite et tend toujours à l'utilité publique […].” Edition électronique réalisée par Jean-Marie Tremblay, 2002, p. 24.
  2. ↑ “… que la volonté générale, pour être vraiment telle, doit l'être dans son objet ainsi que dans son essence; qu'elle doit partir de tous pour s'appliquer à tous; […] ”, Ibid p. 26.
  3. ↑ “Sans doute il est une justice universelle émanée de la raison seule; mais cette justice, pour -être admise entre nous, doit être réciproque. ” Ibid p. 30.
  4. ↑ “Il n'y a qu'une seule loi qui, par sa nature, exige un consentement unanime; c'est le pacte social: car l'association civile est l'acte du monde le plus volontaire; […] ”, Ibid p. 85.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  1. ^ Rousseau, Jean-Jacques: From the social contract or principles of the state law , ed. U. Translated by Hans Brockard, with collabor. by Eva Pietzcker, Reclam, Stuttgart 1977, p. 5.
  2. ↑ a b Ibid p. 17
  3. ↑ Ibid. P. 21
  4. ↑ Both ibid p. 22
  5. ↑ Ibid. P. 24
  6. ↑ Both ibid p. 26