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GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

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SOVEREIGNTY AtfD NATURAL RIGHTS 541<br />

In Rousseau the notion of N<strong>at</strong>ural Rights derived from<br />

a st<strong>at</strong>e of n<strong>at</strong>ure tends to fall into the background. In<br />

an early work entitled Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,<br />

Rousseau defines the st<strong>at</strong>e of n<strong>at</strong>ure as a st<strong>at</strong>e of bliss.<br />

In a st<strong>at</strong>e of bliss men presumably enjoyed all rights th<strong>at</strong><br />

are conducive to their pleasure and profit. In Rousseau's<br />

l<strong>at</strong>er thought the individual's N<strong>at</strong>ural Rights tend to be<br />

swallowed up in the concept of the General Will. The<br />

General Will embodies and synthesizes all the separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />

wills of the various individuals in a community, in so far<br />

as they "are willing as they ought to will. Their wills for<br />

life, liberty, goods and so forth are, therefore, presumably<br />

the General Will. It is to<br />

synthesized in and transcended by<br />

the General Will, then, th<strong>at</strong> men must look for the fulfilment<br />

of their rights, and it is to the community as a whole,<br />

whose will is the General Will, th<strong>at</strong> they owe allegiance.<br />

Paine on N<strong>at</strong>ural Rights. By the beginning of the<br />

nineteenth century, the conception of the Social Contract<br />

was losing ground. Even when it was not specifically<br />

repudi<strong>at</strong>ed, it dropped more and more into the back-<br />

ground of men's thoughts. But the conception of N<strong>at</strong>ural<br />

Rights to which the Social Contract theories had given<br />

rise, still persisted.<br />

The English writer Tom Paine (1737-1809), the most<br />

enthusiastic advoc<strong>at</strong>e of N<strong>at</strong>ural Rights, still retains the<br />

notion of a contract, although in his view it is a contract<br />

between equals for the cre<strong>at</strong>ion of executive officials. The<br />

contract is not, therefore, a contract to guarantee rights.<br />

His book entitled The Bights of Man contains a declar<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

which begins with the announcement th<strong>at</strong> all men are<br />

"free and equal in respect of their rights". The declar<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

proceeds to the assertion th<strong>at</strong> "the end of all political<br />

associ<strong>at</strong>ions is the preserv<strong>at</strong>ion of the n<strong>at</strong>ural and im-<br />

prescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty,<br />

property, security and resistance of oppression;". Liberty<br />

is l<strong>at</strong>er defined as "the power of doing wh<strong>at</strong>ever does not<br />

injure another." Paine's reason for refusing to base his

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