Analysis Of The Social Contract By Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Social Contract was written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau was a philosopher, writer, and composer during the 18th century. In his book, The Social Contract, he theorized the best way to create a political community. The “social contract” is an agreement in the way an individual enters society; people place restraints on their behavior to be able to live in a community. As a result, people gain the freedom of thinking rationally and morally. He believes the only way to become fully human is by entering the “social contract”.
“Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains”, Rousseau says to open up the book. The “chains” are restrictions on the people’s freedom. He believes that in nature there is no political authority, and the only real authority is the father’s authority on his kids. This is where Rousseau’s social contract comes into play; he suggests the only valid political authority is entering into the social contract. Other people began to disagree with Rousseau by saying that there should be an agreement between the king and his people, where the people would surrender their freedom sort of as if they were slaves. Rousseau states that there is no way to surrender one’s freedom fairly. When we give up our freedom, we also give up our morality and our humanity. Rousseau

He believes in having the right to live when no wrong doings have been done, but if wrong doings are committed there will be a consequence. Specifically, Rousseau discusses his support of the death penalty; he argues that the state the power and right to determine what punishment is given to the criminal. His reason is that when committing a crime, the citizen is violating the social contract. When the social contract is violated, the citizen becomes an enemy of the state resulting in the death penalty. He finishes the discussion off by explaining that to have a healthy state, there must be few