The 1,000LL Social Contract

    

The ‘Social Contract’, as envisioned by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), a highly-influential Swiss philosopher whose political ideas heavily influenced and helped shape post-revolutionary political thought in France, is a theoretical, unwritten contract that governs the relationship between Man and government; whereby Man is required to relinquish his ‘natural liberty’ in exchange for the greater benefit of living within a regulated and harmonious society, provided for by the government, and thus “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (Rousseau 114,115). Rousseau, in a statement of the profits and losses of the social contract, states that Man loses his “natural liberty” and “an unrestricted right to anything he wants”, but in return, gains “civil liberty”, and “the ownership of everything he possesses” (115).

The picture I thought relevant to Rousseau’s text was a photograph I took of warning sign attached to a parking metre on Bliss Street, outside the American University of Beirut. The picture speaks volumes about the social contract discussed by Rousseau, as it is a physical manifestation of the reduced personal freedoms of Man as a result of government intervention. In the absence of a social contract in this particular case (whereby parking violators are punished in the form of monetary fines), people would park at their own personal whim, which could result in a chaotic and unorganized situation. We, in this scenario, are required to give up our personal freedom to park wherever and whenever we please, with no regards to the “sovereign” (Rousseau 114). The imposition of these monetary consequences encourage us to abide by the rules and regulations set forth by the government, and thus we, as a community, gain civil liberty.

                                                                                                                     

Works Cited:

Rousseau, Jean Jacques. “The Social Contract“. Shifting Narratives. E.d. Zane S. Sinno, Lina

Bioghlu-Karkanawi, Dorota Fleszar, Najla Jarkas, Emma Moughabghab, Jennifer 

M. Nish, Rima Rantisi, and Abir Ward.  Consolation and Research, Educart, 2015. Print.