Genevan philosopher whose The Social Contract (1762) argued that legitimate political authority arises only from the general will of the people acting as sovereign. His account of popular sovereignty influenced the French Revolution and later republican and democratic thought. He died in 1778.
Facts
Classification
Political Role Connections
Advocated
The Social Contract argues legitimate sovereignty rests in the direct, ongoing assembly of citizens rather than in elected representatives.
Source Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Drafted
Rousseau published The Social Contract in 1762, the same year as Emile; both were banned and burned in Geneva and Paris shortly after publication.
Source Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Founded
Rousseau's account of the general will in The Social Contract (1762) is the paradigmatic modern statement of popular sovereignty: sovereignty is inalienable and can never be represented, only exercised by the assembled citizen body.
Source Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Rousseau's Du Contrat Social (1762) reframed the contract around the general will.
Source Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Influenced
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in Literature Atlas: the same subject.
Also in Philosophy Atlas: the same subject.
Sources
1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Wikipedia (Wikipedia)
2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEntity description, gender reference sentence
His account of popular sovereignty influenced the French Revolution and later republican and democratic thought.
- Founded: The Social Contract
- Founded: Popular Sovereignty
Drafted: The Social Contract, Page text
The work is cast in epistolary form, and is an important supplementary source for the interpretation of Rousseau’s social philosophy, containing, as it does, such elements as a vision of rural community and the presence of a manipulative genius who achieves the appearance of natural harmony through cunning artifice, and who thus anticipates both the tutor in Emile and the legislator of The Social Contract . Both works appeared in 1762, marking the high point of Rousseau’s intellectual achievement.
- Advocated: Direct Democracy
- Drafted: The Social Contract, Section discussing The Social Contract
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