Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Social Contract, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Human Freedom and Society
Sovereignty, Citizenship, and Direct Democracy
Government and the Separation of Powers
National Longevity and Moral Virtue
Summary
Analysis
When they stop living in “the state of nature” and start living in society, people change: they become moral beings and have to start acting based on principles and reason rather than instinct and desire. In turn, society “develop[s]” and “elevate[s]” people’s rationality. Ultimately, by joining society through the social contract, people lose “natural liberty and the absolute right to anything that tempts [them] and that [they] can take,” but gain “civil liberty and the legal right of property.” “Natural liberty[’s]” limit is “physical power,” while “civil liberty[’s]” is “the general will” itself. Society turns mere possession into legal property, and it also makes people truly, morally free by letting them follow laws of their own making.
Rousseau clarifies that, beyond simply guaranteeing people material freedom and safety to a greater extent than the state of nature can, society also gives people the capacity to pursue greater projects and higher forms of existence. This argument is indebted to a long tradition of philosophers who consider it obvious that rationality is the greatest human faculty and moral education and philosophy are the highest human pursuits, but readers need not accept this entirely in order to agree with Rousseau on the more basic principle that people can live more fulfilling lives when they are not constantly fighting for survival. In addition to people’s ability to help make communal decisions in a society, this access to higher kinds of freedom is another reason that people can submit to a society’s rule while gaining freedom rather than losing it.
Themes
