October 21, 2024
Social Contract
The idea that society is born from an agreement among individuals (social pact, as it was called) is a concept from the 18th century, later surpassed in the 19th century because it didn't correspond to reality. In fact, humans have always existed within a society; outside of it, they are an abstraction. In fact, primitive and ancient societies were much, much more cohesive and invasive. Historians of the 19th century (Burckhardt) believed that only with the Renaissance did individualities emerge, leading to the rise of European primacy.