The Social Contract · Chapter
II: The First Societies explained
Rousseau examines the family as the most ancient and natural society, arguing that it serves as the first model for political societies.
What happens
Rousseau examines the family as the most ancient and natural society, arguing that it serves as the first model for political societies. He critiques Grotius, Hobbes, and Aristotle for justifying slavery and tyranny, asserting that natural liberty and equality are fundamental to human nature.
Themes in this chapter
State of Nature vs. Civil Society
The family is presented as a natural society that dissolves into independence, contrasting with the voluntary conventions of civil society.
Critique of Despotism and Slavery
Rousseau refutes Grotius, Hobbes, and Aristotle's justifications for slavery, arguing that force creates slaves, not nature.
Liberty and Equality
Emphasizes that all are born free and equal, and liberty is alienated only for mutual advantage.
Characters to notice
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Author and narrator, presenting his critique of natural slavery and the family as the first society.
- Hugo Grotius
Quoted for denying that all power is established for the governed and for using fact to justify right, favoring tyrants.
- Thomas Hobbes
Mentioned alongside Grotius for viewing the human race as divided into herds with rulers who devour them.
- Caligula
Cited for reasoning that kings are gods or men are beasts, aligning with Hobbes and Grotius.
- Aristotle
Mentioned for claiming some are born for slavery, but Rousseau argues he mistook effect for cause.
Key passages
“The most ancient of all societies, and the only one that is natural, is the family: and even so the children remain attached to the father only so long as they need him for their preservation.”
The family is the oldest and only natural society, but children depend on their father only as long as they need him for survival.
Establishes the family as the prototype for political societies, based on natural need rather than permanent bonds.
“Aristotle was right; but he took the effect for the cause. Nothing can be more certain than that every man born in slavery is born for slavery.”
Aristotle correctly observed that slaves exist, but he mistakenly thought they were born for it, when in fact slavery creates the condition.
Rousseau reverses Aristotle's logic, arguing that slavery is a product of force and habit, not nature.