The Social Contract

Com efeito, cada indivíduo pode, como homem, ter uma vontade particular contrária ou dessemelhante à vontade geral que possui na qualidade de cidadão. 0 interesse particular pode faltar-lhe de maneira totalmente diversa da que lhe fala o interesse comum: sua existência absoluta, e naturalmente independente, pode fazê-lo encarar o que deve à causa c

Here, Rousseau asks exactly the same question that puzzled so many indigenous Americans. How is it that Europeans are able to turn wealth into power; turn a mere unequal distribution of material goods – which exists, at least to some degree, in any society – into the ability to tell others what to do, to employ them as servants, workmen or grenadie

Rousseau in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754), that it might in fact be the savage and not – as everyone had grown used to thinking – the modern worker who was the better off of the pair?

Il importe avant tout de distinguer l’état de nature de l’état de société de l’être humain. Par le droit souverain de sa nature, chaque individu fait ce qui lui semble être bon pour lui. Vivant selon la loi naturelle, qui vise l’augmentation de sa puissance et la poursuite de ses désirs, il agit d’abord en fonction de son intérêt propre et ne se so

in civilized, open societies, the majority abide by a functional social contract, aimed at mutual betterment—or at least at existence in close proximity without too much violence.