Rousseau's Social Contract

The first of the four benefits of society conferred by Rousseau’s Social Contract is that we are all equals and shall be treated as such. In this, he describes a general will which dictates the actions of the individual and basically the good of the whole is the good of its parts. Rousseau says, “Each of us puts in common his person and his whole power under the supreme direction of the general will; …

…their respective works, display a degree of dislike for democracy. They both feel that most forms of government are inferior and will eventually lead to another undesirable form. According to Machiavelli, principality leads to tyranny, which leads to an aristocracy, which leads to an oligarchy, which in turn leads to a democracy, which finally leads to complete anarchy. Plato basically holds the same true only with different terms such as “timocracy” and “despotism”. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**