Rousseau's work on The Social Contract begins with a legendary ringing indictment of society as it exists: "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains" (Rousseau 1993, p. 693). Before examining Rousseau's theory of government in greater detail, however, it is worth noting what assumptions are contained in this first sentence of The Social Contract, which is perhaps the most famous line that Rousseau ever wrote. It contains an assumption about human nature -- that somehow the nature of man is "free" and that the government that exists at the time of Rousseau's publication in 1762 is somehow an unjust imposition upon that freedom. This is important to note because Rousseau, not unlike his predecessors Locke and Hobbes, needs to establish a theory of human nature before he can outline a theory of just government. It is worth noting that in the same year Rousseau published The Social...
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