Rousseau1s Social Contract

Apuntes

Rousseau's Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that the social contract was not limited to rulers and ruled, but to all members of society. "What then is government? It is an intermediary organ established between the subjects and the sovereign [king] to keep them in contact... The power of government is solely the public power conferred upon it... when the [government] possesses a will of its own stronger than that of the sovereign... at that moment the social union disappears and the body politic is dissolved." -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1763 Beginning in the late 1500s, new discoveries and the use of reason in Europe during the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment led to changing ideas about government and society. Influenced by Enlightenment ideas, British colonists in North America established a new nation—the United States BEFORE YOU READ MAIN IDEA New ways of thinking led to remarkable discoveries during the Scientific Revolution. READING FOCUS 1. What changes led to the dawn of modern science? 2. What discoveries occurred in astronomy, physics, and mathematics during the Scientific Revolution? 3. How did early scientists advance ...