In On Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes the following: “I therefore call every state ruled by laws a republic, regardless of the form its administration may take” (179). Explain what Rousseau means by a republic: Why is the republic the “form of association […] by means of which each one, while uniting with all, nevertheless obeys only himself and remains as free as before” (164). What is the role of law in the republic? In what sense is each member in the republic “as free as before” (i.e., as free as in the original state of nature)? In a republic, why does a subject who obeys the government obey only himself? In what sense is there equality in the republic? How is the equality in the republic related to the equality in the original state of nature?