Rousseau, Jean-Jacques - Vincente Medina (essay date 1990)

Vincente Medina (essay date 1990)

SOURCE: "Rousseau," in Social Contract Theories: Political Obligation or Anarchy?, Rowman & Little-field Publishers, Inc., 1990, pp. 43-61.

[In the following excerpt, Medina discusses Rousseau as an advocate of contractarianism.]

Rousseau discusses the signs of a good government in On the Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right:

When the question arises which one is absolutely the best government, an insoluble question is being raised because it is indeterminate. Or, if you wish, it has as many good answers as there are possible combinations in the absolute and relative positions of peoples.

But if it is asked by what sign it is possible to know that a given people is well or poorly governed, this is another matter, and the question of fact could be resolved….

What is the goal of the political association? It is the preservation and...

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