LUIS FABIO GUERRA SPIRA

The notion of moeurs has pride of place in Rousseau's thought, as it enables the understanding of, firstly, how social bonds are formed as private will becomes general will, and secondly, how particular the articulation of politics and morals is in his political writings. The art of customs (moeurs) formation, art perfectionné, must provide the real and material conditions for the individual will of citizens to be generalized through public deliberation and the exercise of civil duties and rights. This must enable each citizen to consider their own interests in light of the common interest. This goal has a cognitive and an affective dimension ; it moreover allows one to see how social bonds are formed in the well-constituted State, in the light of politics and morals.