Laudator Temporis Acti

Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897), Judgements on History and Historians, tr. Harry Zohn (1959; rpt. London: Routledge, 2007), p. 266:

Rousseau's Utopia had already spread widely from the educated circles down to the semi-educated. This utopia was composed of, and sustained by, the following premises. Human nature was assumed to be good once the barriers were taken down; in connection with this, virtuous feelings, compassion, and the like were extolled and the praises of primitive man were sung at the expense of civilized man; arguments or actions were advanced transcending individual nations, in the name of mankind; the assumption was made of an original contract into which things could be put at will (the more cautious spoke of a tacitly made contract); then, from the 'social contract' there were derived liberty and equality, the latter assuming that all men should possess something, but none too much; finally, the volonté de tous [will of all] and the volonté générale [general will] were to be balanced, without its being stated who was to determine the latter.

Die Rousseau'sche Utopie, aus den Kreisen der Gebildeten schon weit zu den Halbgebildeten abwärts verbreitet. Diese Utopie war zusammengesetzt und getragen:

Durch die Ansicht von der Güte der menschlichen Natur, sobald man nur die Schranken von ihr nähme — cf. Tugendgefühl, Rührung etc.;

Das Lob des Urmenschen auf Kosten des civilisirten;

Das Raisonniren (und Handeln resp.) über das einzelne Volk hinweg, im Namen und zu Gunsten des genre humain;

Die Voraussetzung eines Urvertrages, in den man Beliebiges hineinlegen konnte (die Vorsichtigem redeten von einem stillschweigend geschloßnen Vertrag).

Dann im Contrat social: liberté und egalité, letztere schon mit Bedingung: daß alle Menschen etwas, keiner zu viel besäße.

Die Abrechnung zwischen der volonté de tous und der volonte générale, ohne zu sagen wer letztere ermitteln sollte.