Expanding the Social Contract: Rousseau, Gender and the Problem of Judgment

Abstract

LIKE social contract theory, which has been criticized by Marxists and feminists alike for its conception of a classless and homogeneous public, philosophical dialogue could be accused of excluding heterogeneous elements.' The universal ideals of reciprocity, freedom, and equality, can be read as homogenizing difference and instituting male authority, rather than as preserving difference. In the following analysis, I will first lay out the formal and structural similarities between Rousseau's social contract and dialogue, using Habermas's ideal speech situation as a theoretical model. I will then examine closely the relationship constructed between the reader and the text in the dialogue Rousseau juge dejean-Jacques, in an attempt to construct an/other kind of Finally, I will raise the issue of the exclusion of women from both the civic public of social contract and philosophical dialogue, thereby calling into question the universality of Habermas's universal pragmatics. I will consider whether or not Rousseau succeeds in preserving gender difference with his construction of a sympathetic reading public.