Abstrakt
The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the theoretical republican and democratic reflections of Jean-Jacques Rousseau related to the Polish political system in the 18th century. The mutual connections and context of these reflections should be deducted from reading the not so well known Rousseau's work Considerations on the Government in Poland.
The traditional understanding of this issue is based on the thesis of Rousseau's late ideological turn which caused that the French philosopher was able to withdraw the key principles of his ideal society propagated in The Social Contract and establish the ultraconservative course expressed by the exclamation: "Poles, do consider well if it is wise to change anything in your state!" This paper, on the contrary, aims to prove that Rousseau did not compromise his own principles by the defence of Polish aristocratic and serfdom system since he wanted to create the practical manual for implementation the ahistorical principles of social contract to the definite time and space. On the basis of this hypothesis it is necessary to consider why the Polish political system was so inspiring for Rousseau that he perceived it as a suitable base for republican society.