Rousseau and the Socialization of Republican Liberty

• In Event: Early Modern Inequalities

Abstract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was arguably the most original republican of the eighteenth century. Regardless, scholars associated with the revival of republicanism as a distinct tradition in political thought have often denied his intellectual kinship with other republican thinkers. This is especially true with regard to the contemporary conception of republicanism as a theory of political liberty, understood as non-domination by arbitrary power. Neo-republicans such as Philip Pettit have instead claimed Rousseau to be a populist or radical democrat who turned the people itself into a “dominus.” This mischaracterization obscures Rousseau’s contribution to the idea of republican liberty. I argue that Rousseau presents a key figure in bringing the idea of freedom as non-domination to the social sphere, and I explore this contribution through his considerations of commercial society. In Rousseau’s thought, actions of rulers and magistrates which do not track with the public interest present less fundamental a threat to liberty than the corruption of the legislator (i.e. the general will). In addition, Rousseau’s understanding of liberty through law gives particular attention to the ways in which relationships of power among the citizens, particularly economic asymmetries, can come to interfere with the character of the laws themselves in ways that ultimately undermine liberty. In his ‘socialization’ of the idea of republican liberty, Rousseau thus plays a leading role in broadening republicanism’s understanding of where domination can occur and how extra-legal domination impinges upon liberty.

Author

• Megan Kathleen Dyer, Texas A&M University