From the State of Nature to the Civil State and the Rousseauian «General Will»: Toward a Critique of «Contractual Commercialism»
Keywords:
Commercial contract, Freedom, (In)equality, Marx, Robinsonade
Abstract
Regarding contractualism, it can be accepted that, in general, its relationship with mercantile society is sufficiently clear, but, as understood from the outset, it will be somewhat less obvious in Rousseau. The way he engaged with the new bourgeois civility made the matter more complex. That said, this critique will target not only the theses of the Contrat social, where he is more clearly a defender of tradition, but also his more critical work on the current state of human relations, Discours sur l’inégalité, among others. Our critique, or the highlighting of something akin to a commercial contract, will be grounded in part on Marx’s analysis of the same foundations, as we believe the German thinker identified an underlying issue (or perhaps more than one) in Rousseau’s conception. This allows us to consolidate our perspective and expose the limitations inherent in his framework.
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ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1958). Émile, ou, de l’Éducation [1762]. Introdução por Henri Wallon, estudos e notas por J. —L. Le Cercle. Paris : Éditions Sociales.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1992). Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes [1755]. Paris : GF—Flammarion, 145—172.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (2001). Du Contrat Social [1762]. Paris : GF—Flammarion.
SMITH, Adam (1977). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations [1776]. Editado com introdução, notas, resumo marginal e índice por Edwin Cannan. University of Chicago Press.
SUITS, Bernard (1977). «Words on Play». Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 4 (1): 117—131.
VARGAS, Yves (2014). Jean—Jacques Rousseau, l’avortement du capitalism. Paris: Éditions Delga.
VOLPE, Galvano Della (1997). Rousseau e Marx e altri saggi di critica materialística [1957]. Prefácio de Nicolao Merker. Roma: Editori Riuniti.
WILDE, Lawrence (2005). «Marx against the social contract». In The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls [1994], editado por David Boucher e Paul Kelly, 89—107. Nova York; Londres: Routledge.
ZHONG, Mengjun (2022). «The Differences Between Marx and Rousseau on Critique Capitalism. Research and Reviews: Journal of Social Sciences 8 (4): 18—22.
ALVES, João Lopes (2008). «Introdução». In Jean—Jacques Rousseau. O Contrato Social (Manuscrito de Genebra), traduzido por Manuel João Pires, 7—47. S.l.: Círculo de Leitores.
ANTUNES, Paulo (2024). Marx e o Interesse Público. Contributo para um Debate Político—Filosófico Contemporâneo. Lisboa: Página a Página.
ARAMAYO, Roberto R. (2015). Rousseau — Y la política hizo al hombre (tal como es). España: Batiscafo, S.L.
BARATA, André (2012). Primeiras Vontades. Da liberdade política para tempos árduos. Lisboa: Sistema Solar, CRL.
BENTHAM, Jeremy (1996). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation [1789]. Editado por J. H. Burns e H. L. A. Hart. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[BÍBLIA]. The Hexaglot Bible. Editado por Edward Riches de Levante. Nova York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1906.
BOUCHER, David; KELLY, Paul, eds. (2005). The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls [1994]. Nova York; Londres: Routledge.
BUEY, Francisco Fernández (1984). Contribución a la crítica del marxismo cientificista. Barcelona : Ediciones de la Universitat de Barcelona.
CARREL, Alexis (1935). L’homme, cet inconnu. Paris : Librairie Plon.
COLLETTI, Lucio (1974). From Rousseau to Lenin. Studies in Ideology and Society [Ideologia e Societá, 1969]. Traduzido por John Merrington e Judith White. Nova York; Londres: Monthly Review Press.
CONDORCET, M. de (1847—1849). « Discours prononcé dans l’Académie Française, le jeudi 21 Février 1782, à la réception de M. le marquis de Condorcet [1782] ». In Œuvres de Condorcet publiées par A. Condorcet O’Connor, 389—415. Paris : Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires, Tome 1.
DEFOE, Daniel (2007). Robinson Crusoe [1719]. Editado com introdução por Thomas Keymer, com notas de Thomas Keymer e James Kelly. Oxford; Nova York: Oxford University Press.
FERGUSON II, Stephen C. (2007). «Social Contract as Bourgeois Ideology». Cultural Logic 14: 1—19.
HABERMAS, Jürgen (1994). Faktizität und Geltung. Beiträge zur Diskurstheorie des Rechts und des demokratischen Rechtsstaats [1992]. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.
HEIDEGGER, Martin (1967). Sein und Zeit [1927]. 11.ª ed. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
HOBBES, Thomas (1996). Leviathan [or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil (1851)]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
LOCKE, John (2003). «The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina [1669] ». In Locke. Political Writings, editado por David Wootton, 210—232. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
LOCKE, John (2003). Two Treatises of Government; and A Letter Concerning Toleration [1689]. Editado com introdução por Ian Shapiro. New Haven; Londres: Yale University Press.
MACPHERSON, Crawford Brough (1990). The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism. Hobbes to Locke [1962]. 13.ª impressão. Oxford; Nova York: Oxford University Press.
MARX, Karl (1961). «Einleitung [zur Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (1857)]». In Marx Engels Werke (doravante: MEW), vol. 13, 615—642. Berlim: Dietz Verlag.
MARX, Karl (1962). Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie [1867, 1890], Erster Band, Buch I. MEW, vol. 23.
MARX, Karl (1978). «Thesen über Feuerbach [“1. ad Feuerbach”, 1845, 1888]». In MEW, vol. 3, 533—35.
MARX, Karl (1983). Grundrissen der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie [1857—58]. MEW, vol. 42.
MARX, Karl; ENGELS, Friedrich (1978). Die deutsche Ideologie. Kritik der neuesten deutschen Philosophie in ihren Repräsentanten Feuerbach, B. Bauer und Stirner, und des deutschen Sozialismus in seinen verschiedenen Propheten [1845—1846]. MEW, vol. 3, 9—530.
MATOS, Manuel João (2008). Rousseau e a Lógica da Democracia. Lisboa: Edições Colibri.
MILLS, Charles Wright (1999). The Racial Contract [1997]. Ithaca; Londres: Cornell University Press.
NISBET, Robert A. (1943). «Rousseau and Totalitarianism». The Journal of Politics 5 (2): 93—114.
PIKETTY, Thomas (2013). Le capital au XXIe siècle. Paris : Éditions du Seuil.
POTTER, Beatrix (1920). The Tale of Little Pig Robinson. Londres; Nova York: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd.
PLUTARCO (2020). Como tirar partido dos seus inimigos / Como distinguir um bajulador de um amigo [De capienda ex inimicis utilitare / Quomodo adulator ab amico internoscatur]. Traduzido por Duarte da Costa Cabral. Lisboa: Clássica Editora.
RAWLS, John (1999). The Theory of Justice [1971]. Edição revista. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1882). Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire [1782]. Paris : Librairie des Bibliophiles.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1915). Du contrat social, ou essai sur la forme de la république [1756—59]. In The Political Writings of Jean—Jacques Rousseau (doravante: PWR), editado por C. E. Vaughan, vol. I, 446—511. Cambridge University Press.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1915). « Économie politique [1755] ». In PWR, vol. I, 237—280.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1915). « Fragments divers ». In PWR, vol. I, 314—358.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1958). Émile, ou, de l’Éducation [1762]. Introdução por Henri Wallon, estudos e notas por J. —L. Le Cercle. Paris : Éditions Sociales.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (1992). Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes [1755]. Paris : GF—Flammarion, 145—172.
ROUSSEAU, Jean—Jacques (2001). Du Contrat Social [1762]. Paris : GF—Flammarion.
SMITH, Adam (1977). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations [1776]. Editado com introdução, notas, resumo marginal e índice por Edwin Cannan. University of Chicago Press.
SUITS, Bernard (1977). «Words on Play». Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 4 (1): 117—131.
VARGAS, Yves (2014). Jean—Jacques Rousseau, l’avortement du capitalism. Paris: Éditions Delga.
VOLPE, Galvano Della (1997). Rousseau e Marx e altri saggi di critica materialística [1957]. Prefácio de Nicolao Merker. Roma: Editori Riuniti.
WILDE, Lawrence (2005). «Marx against the social contract». In The Social Contract from Hobbes to Rawls [1994], editado por David Boucher e Paul Kelly, 89—107. Nova York; Londres: Routledge.
ZHONG, Mengjun (2022). «The Differences Between Marx and Rousseau on Critique Capitalism. Research and Reviews: Journal of Social Sciences 8 (4): 18—22.
Published
2024-12-31
How to Cite
[1]
Antunes, P. and Vargas , S. 2024. From the State of Nature to the Civil State and the Rousseauian «General Will»: Toward a Critique of «Contractual Commercialism». Disputatio. 13, 28 (Dec. 2024), 23-56. DOI:https://doi.org/10.63413/disputatio.944.
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