scholarly journals Rousseau's Conception of Government in the work Discourse on Political Economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Petar Jakopec
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Will ◽  
Major Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Right

In this article the author problematizes Rousseau’s Discourse on Political Economy and his conception of government in the political community. Rousseau’s Discourse on Political Economy was chronologically written seven years before his major work The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right. Regardless of the fact that the Discourse on Political Economy was published earlier, it left a remarkable trace in Rousseau‘s philosophical opus. In this work, which was published as part of the fifth volume of Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, Rousseau indicated his direction in political philosophy. This philosophical and political direction began with the Discourse on Political Economy and culminated in the philosophical and political conception of republicanism, elaborated in detail in The Social Contract. In this article the author uses critical analysis and reconstruction to establish Rousseau‘s fundamental ideas about his political philosophy present in the Discourse on Political Economy, with a focus on observing and studying the role of a sovereign and the public economy in the function of the government by general will within the political community.

scholarly journals Rousseauist foundations of Schmitt's concept of (total) state

Sociologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-236
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Will ◽  
Historical Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Total State

In this paper the author discusses Carl Schmitt's concept of 'the political' (das Politische), and his constitutional teaching (Verfassungslehre). He is trying to explain that the logic of Schmitt's argument against liberal democracy and in favor of populist democracy follows all the important conclusions made by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Social Contract, with only one exception. Schmitt was, namely, reluctant to accept that the social contract ever occurred in any historical society and he believed that it could not be used even as a methodological tool, because it has no meaning in the very foundations of political community. Rousseau's statements on 'general will', 'people', and immediate democracy Schmitt found more attractive for his purposes of designing the model of total state.

scholarly journals CONSIDERAÇÕES DE ARENDT SOBRE O CONCEITO DE VONTADE GERAL DE ROUSSEAU

Sapere Aude ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 172-183
Author(s):  
José João Neves Barbosa Vicente
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Fundamental Concept ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Will ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Social

A vontade geral é um conceito fundamental no pensamento político de Rousseau; é através desse conceito que Rousseau pensa a comunidade política “legítima”, como descrita em Do contrato social, em que a liberdade de cada indivíduo é protegida e preservada. Arendt, no entanto, não compartilha dessa ideia e considera o conceito de vontade geral como descrito por Rousseau uma ameaça à política; ele a enfraquece e a destrói, uma vez que não permite a manifestação da liberdade através de ação e do debate de opiniões entre iguais. Não se pode admitir e nem aceitar ideias ou práticas políticas que tentam homogeneizar as formas de vida humana, que tentam excluir ou controlar a diversidade de opiniões. Defender a ideia de um povo homogêneo que compartilha de uma vontade geral como descrita em Do contrato social, não significa fortalecer a política, mas sim atentar contra a pluralidade humana que dá sentido à comunidade política. A proposta do presente artigo é discutir o posicionamento crítico de Arendt em relação ao conceito de vontade geral de RousseauPALAVRAS- CHAVE: Vontade geral. Rousseau. Pluralidade humana. Liberdade. Arendt. ABSTRACTThe general will is a fundamental concept in Rousseau's political thinking; It is through this concept that Rousseau thinks the "legitimate" political community, where each individual's freedom is protected and preserved. Arendt, however, does not share this idea and considers the concept of general will as described by Rousseau, a threat to politics; it weakens and destroys it, since it does not allow the manifestation of freedom through action and the debate of opinions between equals. Political ideas and practices that attempt to homogenize human life forms that try to exclude or control diversity of opinion can not be accepted or accepted. Defending the idea of a homogenous people that shares a general will as described in The social contract does not mean to strengthen politics, but to attack the human plurality that gives meaning to the political community. The proposal of this article is to discuss this critical positioning of Arendt in relation to the concept of general will of Rousseau.KEYWORDS: General will. Rousseau. Human plurality. Freedom.Arendt.

Nazistowski mord na Żydach w prasie polskich komunistów (1942–1944).

2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover

In the Shadow of the General Will: Rawls, Kant and Rousseau on the Problem of Political Right

1987 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Neal
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
General Will ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Right ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Unstable Position ◽  
Theoretical Project

The relationship between Kant and Rawls is apparently an obvious one; Rawls himself acknowledges the Kantian foundations of his approach to questions of justice and political right, and identifies the precise points at which his theory departs from that of Kant. This essay attempts to show that when one examines those points of departure carefully, they turn out to point not merely away from Kant, but directly and inexorably toward the account of political right given by Rousseau in The Social Contract. The essay argues that it is impossible to fully understand Rawls' theoretical project until one sees the (unstable) position it occupies between the Kantian and Rousseauian accounts of political right. Moreover, it argues that the theoretical project undertaken by Rawls, that of revising the Kantian conception of autonomy in an attempt to show how it could be coherently “expressed” politically, was actually undertaken and “completed” by Rousseau — though with ironic, and unsettling, results.

scholarly journals Sovereignty and Democracy in Global Times: acutality of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Political Philosophy and the limits of the social contract

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Marcus Baccega
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Capital ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Jean Bodin ◽  
The Social ◽  
Isidore Of Seville ◽  
The Republic

SOBERANIA E DEMOCRACIA EM TEMPOS MUNDIALIZADOS: ATUALIDADE DA FILOSOFIA POLÍTICA DE JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU E OS LIMITES DO CONTRATO SOCIAL Resumo: este artigo visa a problematizar os (des)caminhos dos conceitos políticos e das práticas sociais e jurídicas em torno da soberania política do Estado Nacional e da democracia nos tempos de mundialização do Capital. Portanto, revisita e percorre uma breve arqueologia conceitual da Soberania, desde Isidoro de Sevilha até a clássica definição de Jean Bodin nos Seis Livros sobre a República (1576). O propósito é problematizar a filosofia política de Rousseau para, então, perceber e discutir seus limites suas virtualidades, bem como a atualidade de sua noção de Contrato Social e o papel da Filosofia Política na Era do Capital Global. Palavras-chave: Rousseau. Soberania. Mundialização do Capital. Abstract: this paper casts doubt on the ways and shunts of political concepts and social and legal practices concerning political sovereignty of the Nation State and democracy at the time of Capital’s globalization. It revisits a brief conceptual archeology of Sovereignty, since Isidore of Seville to the classical definition by Jean Bodin in The Six Books on the Republic (1576). The purpose is casting doubt on the political philosophy of Rousseau, in order to discuss its limits and virtualities, and the topicality of his notion of social contract and the role of Political Philosophy at the Age of Global Capital. Keywords: Rousseau. Sovereignty. Globalization of Capital.

scholarly journals The Theory of Social Contract and Legitimacy Today

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Neophitos Economides
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The Political ◽  
Renaissance Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Era

Abstract The theory of social contract has played - and still plays - an important role in the central stage of political philosophy. The social contract answers the question of the origin of the society. The history of the theory originates in the ancient Greece political philosophy and extends to the recent years. However, the foundation of the theory resulted in the Renaissance period through the treatises of classical contractarians Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. The manuscript describes the main arguments regarding the theory of social contract and suggests the main similarities and differences among them. Finally, the manuscript, according to the main description of the theories, suggests the main categorization of their results in legitimizing the political authority. In the final section, the article proposes the contribution of the theory of the social contract to the modern era and summarizes the positive aspects of its arguments to the legitimization of the political authority of modern states.

scholarly journals Tacit consent and costs of non-entry into the political community

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 125-133
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Savanović
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tacit Consent ◽  
Claiming Discrimination ◽  
Practical Sense

This paper offers an analysis of an issue related to the social contract theory The issue concerned is disagreement in the form of tacit consent. Namely, if we accept the model of tacit consent, then an issue of costs of this disagreement is raised. These costs cannot be treated in the same way as in the case of express consent. The reason is that, in the case of tacit consent, a person does not have same chances and opportunities as others. This offers a possibility of claiming discrimination, especially if we accept the fact that these costs can be so high so that they deny the possibility of choice. At least in a practical sense and de facto. So, this topic must be understood properly if we want the social contract theory to function well. In this paper, we will try to do that through a logical and semantic analysis of basic terms: tacit consent, disagreement, and costs of contract.

scholarly journals A pedagogia política de Rousseau

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (222) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neiva Oliveira ◽  
Gomercindo Ghiggi ◽  
Avelino da Rosa Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
General Will ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Way

O trabalho tem dois eixos articulados entre si: primeiro, apresenta Emílio e Do Contrato Social como obras pedagógicas de Rousseau; em seguida, mostra a utilização que o autor faz dos conceitos experiência, liberdade e vontade geral, enquanto categorias que dão sustentação a esta pedagogia política. Na primeira linha de reflexão, afirma-se que o próprio fato do Contrato Social estar contido no Emílio indica a vontade instrutora do autor de ensinar as regras básicas para que o cidadão insira-se na sociedade. O Contrato Social visa instruir: Rousseau instrui-se através dele, instrui também Emílio e todo cidadão. A questão pedagógica por excelência é a explicitação da natureza do poder político. No segundo eixo temático, afirma-se que há em Rousseau uma intencionalidade educativa onde a relação entre liberdade e autoridade é uma das tensões que ocorre. Da concepção de natureza humana exposta em sua exterioridade, Rousseau extrai o critério de construção do essencial no humano, o que tem valor permanente e substantivo, que é necessário. Nesta perspectiva de formação e educação há um elemento que se destaca, sem o qual o homem perde a dimensão que o distingue: a liberdade, não ilimitada, mas regulada pela necessidade, pela autoridade da vontade geral. Palavras-chave: Rousseau; pedagogia política; liberdade; necessidade; vontade geral Abstract The paper encompasses two paths of argumentation. First, it brings forward both Rousseau’s Emile and The Social Contract as educational works; next, it shows the way the author makes use of concepts such as experience, freedom and general will as categories that provide support to his political pedagogy. In the first argumentative path, it is stated that the very fact that The Social Contract is contained inside Emile indicates the author’s will of teaching the basic rules for a citizen to join society. The Social Contract aims at instructing: through it, Rousseau instructs himself, as well as he instructs Emile, and every citizen. The pedagogical question by excellence is the explanation of the political power. In the second argumentative path, it is stated that there is in Rousseau an educational intentionality in which takes place a tension between freedom and authority. Rousseau brings out from the concept of human nature the criterion for the construction of what is essential in human beings, of what has lasting and substantial worth, of what is necessary. In such a perspective of formation and education, it is freedom that is uplifted, and without it, man loses what makes him different from other beings. But it is not unlimited freedom that distinguishes man; instead, it is freedom ruled by necessity, in other words, by the authority of general will. Keywords: Rousseau; political pedagogy; freedom; necessity; general will

scholarly journals Labour Against Capitalism? Hegel’s Concept of Labour in Between Civil Society and the State

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Anders Bartonek
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Destructive Potential

The concepts and phenomena of civil society, political economy and labour are ambivalent matters in Hegel’s political philosophy. They simultaneously contain productive and destructive potential in the realization of the political community. This article investigates Hegel’s concept of labour against the backdrop of his theory of civil society in order to bring forth the ambiguous role of labour in relation to the ’capitalism’ of civil society. According to Hegel, labour is both economically productive and the activity by which the society and its members can transcend the mere capitalistic dimensions of society. Labour can therefore simultaneously be understood as capitalistic and non-capitalistic in Hegel’s political philosophy. The cultivating dimensions of labour in Hegel’s theory offer a counterpart to the mere capitalistic forms of labour. Labour can therefore be used as a promising platform for the discussion of the relation between economy and culture and for the revitalization of capitalism critique.

scholarly journals From Girls to Slaves: Rousseau, Gendered Education and the Prison of Vanity

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Young Women ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Will ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Ideal

<em>This article explores how Rousseau’s gendered rendering of education prepares women for a life of slavery, primarily by holding them captive to the power of vanity. An understanding of the process of enslavement begins with an appreciation of Rousseau’s conceptualization of freedom and the general will in The Social Contract, followed by a discursive analysis of his guidelines for the proper and desired education of men and women in E?mile, including the pivotal role played by vanity in the inculcation of young women. The paper concludes by underscoring how Rousseau’s description of the ideal education for women not only contradicts his definition of what it means to be fully human, it also replaces women’s liberty and morality with vanity, thereby framing a woman’s role and purpose in life in language the political philosopher usually reserved for slavery, a practice Rousseau purportedly found illegitimate and detrimental to society as a whole.</em>

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