L'échec du Contrat social. A propos d'une critique récente de la théorie de Rousseau

Abstract

Lelia Pezzillo : The failure of the Contrat social. On a recent criticism of Rousseau's theory. The publication in Italy of a new critical edition of the Contrat social, inspired by the most recent English-language debates on political philosophy, raises certain fundamental questions concerning Rousseau's political theory. This article pays special attention to the passage from the state of nature to the state of society and to the role played in it by antagonism, inequality and property. Relevant contemporary theory also provides an opportunity for a rapid statement of the important links between Rousseauism and Anglo-American philosophy, expecially John Rawls's contractualism. This philosophy has led to an interpretation of Rousseau's political theory that looks like being the most original and interesting study of Rousseau to have appeared in the last two decades.