Chapter 21

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT.

Rousseau's reaction against perfectibility 119

Abandonment of the position of the Discourses 121

Doubtful idea of equality 121

The Social Contract, a repudiation of the historic method 124

Yet it has glimpses of relativity 127

Influence of Greek examples 129

And of Geneva 131

Impression upon Robespierre and Saint Just 132

Rousseau's scheme implied a small territory 135

Why the Social Contract made fanatics 137

Verbal quality of its propositions 138

The doctrine of public safety 143

The doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples 144

Its early phases 144

Its history in the sixteenth century 146

Hooker and Grotius 148

Locke 149

Hobbes 151

Central propositions of the Social Contract--

1. Origin of society in compact 154 Different conception held by the Physiocrats 156

2. Sovereignty of the body thus constituted 158 Difference from Hobbes and Locke 159 The root of socialism 160 Republican phraseology 161

3. Attributes of sovereignty 162

4. The law-making power 163 A contemporary illustration 164 Hints of confederation 166

5. Forms of government 168 Criticism on the common division 169 Rousseau's preference for elective aristocracy 172

6. Attitude of the state to religion 173 Rousseau's view, the climax of a reaction 176 Its effect at the French Revolution 179 Its futility 180

Another method of approaching the philosophy of government--

Origin of society not a compact 183

The true reason of the submission of a minority to a majority 184

Rousseau fails to touch actual problems 186

The doctrine of resistance, for instance 188

Historical illustrations 190

Historical effect of the Social Contract in France and Germany 193

Socialist deductions from it 194