Naturalness vs morality: Rousseau's version

Abstract

The subject of the article is the views of J.-J. Rousseau on natural law, social contract, morality and law, which are set out in the treatise «Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit politique» and thematically related works («Émile, ou De l’éducation», «Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes»). The conceptual and terminological features of the French philosopher's thought are considered in dialogue with Locke and Hobbes. The author comes to the following conclusions: (1) Rousseau's political philosophy is an attempt to implement the enlightenment combination of Hobbes' naturalism and Locke's liberalism, which is impossible in practice; (2) the social functionalist understanding of morality deprives Rousseau of the means of reconciling the public interest with the inalienable rights of the individual, since the purely natural factors remaining at his disposal do not allow him to consider the individual as something other than a simple social function; (3) the Rousseau's emphasis on the fundamental heterogeneity of the natural and social states, as well as the unsuccessful solution to the problem of reconciling selfish expression of will and the public interest, appear as a starting point for Kant's moral philosophy.