Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Vom Gesellschaftsvertrag

Modest in scope, revolutionary in effect, controversial in its interpretation: Rousseau's writing "Vom Gesellschaftsvertrag oder Prinzipien des Staatsrechts" (1762) is still one of the undisputed classics of modern political philosophy. The social contract, the place where the state and the natural state meet, is paradoxical; it is supposed to guarantee the complete freedom of human beings and yet create a common ego from them; man is supposed to become a citizen of this one state without reservation. The modern ideal of freedom is transplanted into an ancient polis community. The interpretation of the Scriptures is made more difficult by the fact that they are, on the one hand, a legal-philosophical treatise linked to a scholarly tradition, and on the other hand a political pamphlet with rhetorical exaggerations. The collection of essays attempts to do justice to the ambivalences of the book, sie.