The social contract as a foundation of the civil society

The aim of the article is to investigate the development of the idea of the social contract in relation to the aspects implemented modernly or those which can be implemented in modern times. The thesis claims that the social contract is a foundation of the civil society and lays ground-work of the idea of power division. The author also notices that the social contract is a paradoxically parallel form to natural rights and it is strongly connected to the idea of freedom and equality. In the article the author discusses particular types of the social contract based on a criterion of the subject of contract. The structure of the social contract is presented as a theoretical structure crucial for social life which has a significant impact on modern practice of settling the public and legal issues. The arguments in favor of the thesis are the idea of civil disobedience, the idea of balanced system and the idea of power division.Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polski