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Jean-Jacques Rousseau. By Todd Christensen. Background. Born in Geneva, Switzerland Mother died after birth Father fled when 10 Raised by aunt and uncle Left Geneva at 16 Moved to Paris in 1742. His Philosophy. Philosophy tried to grasp an emotional and passionate side of man
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau By Todd Christensen
Background • Born in Geneva, Switzerland • Mother died after birth • Father fled when 10 • Raised by aunt and uncle • Left Geneva at 16 • Moved to Paris in 1742
His Philosophy • Philosophy tried to grasp an emotional and passionate side of man • Left out before
His Philosophy • One of the first modern writers to seriously attack the institute of private property. • Considered to be a forebear of modern socialism and Communism. • Questioned the assumption that the will of the majority is always correct. • The goal of government should be to secure freedom, equality, and justice for all within the state, regardless of the will of the majority.
Political Philosophy • Politics and morality should not be separated. When a state fails to act in a moral fashion, it ceases to function in the proper manner and ceases to exert genuine authority over the individual. • Freedom – The state is created to preserve
Educational Philosophy • Minimizes the importance of book learning, and recommends that a child’s emotions should be educated before his reason. • Learn by experience
Early Writing • Man is essentially good, a “noble savage” when in the “state of nature” (the state of all the other animals, and the condition man was in before the creation of civilization and society) • Good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society. • Society is “artificial” and “corrupt” • The furthering of society continues the unhappiness of man.
Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750) • The advancement in these areas had not been beneficial to mankind. • The progress of knowledge had made governments more powerful, and crashed individual liberty. • This undermined the possibility of sincere friendship, replaicing it with jealousy, fear and suspicion.
The Social Contract • Describes the relationship of man with society. • The state of nature is brutish condition without law or morality. • There are good men only as a result of society’s presence. • In nature, man is in frequent competition with his fellow men. • Because he can be more successful facing threats by joining with other men, he has the impetus to do so.
The Social Contract • Man joins together to form the collective human presence known as “society.” • The “Social Contract” is the “compact” agreed to among men that sets the conditions for membership in society.
Social Contract Quotes • Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. • Every law the people have not ratified in person is null and void — is, in fact, not a law. • The legislative power belongs to the people, and can belong to it alone. • The Sovereign, having no force other than the legislative power, acts only by means of the laws; and the laws being solely the authentic acts of the general will, the Sovereign cannot act save when the people is assembled.
Discourse on Inequality • Two types of inequality – natural and ethical • Natural inequality involves differences in man’s physical strength – It is a product of nature. • Moral inequality is endemic to a civil society and relates to, and causes, differences in power and wealth. This inequality is established by convention. • Unlike Hobbes’ natural man, Rousseau’s is not motivated by fear of death because he cannot conceive of that end.
