Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712 – 1778)
Genevan philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment, whose works became cornerstones of modern political and social thought.
His first major work that propelled him to fame was the Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (1750), which was written as a response to an essay contest hosted by the Academy of Dijon.
His second major work, the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754), was also written for an Academy contest. Rousseau’s central claim in his Discourses is that human beings are essentially good by nature, but were corrupted by complex historical events that eventually led to present- day civil societies. In the second discourse, he defines the natural state of man pre-civilization as:
Rousseau’s state of nature: the natural man is a “noble savage”, isolated, timid, peaceful, without the mental capacities to worry about the future. Humans don’t have much contact with each other, so there are no feelings of envy or distrust, and no existence of property and conflict (cf. Hobbes & Locke state of nature).
– What motivates human action are the principles of self-preservation and pity
– As opposed to animals, humans are also agents of free choice and do not have to follow theirnatural instincts
– They have the ability of perfectability, which allows them to choose in which way to improve their condition.
Rousseau traces the historical events and development that led humans out of the state of nature. Essentially, he says that it is the process of socialization, formation of groups and relationships, and division of labour that produced inequality, competition and egoistic mentality. This effectively leads to a war-against-all situation which was described by Hobbes.
According to Rousseau, those who had the most to loose, called on the others to come together under a social contract for the benefit and protection of all. However, Rousseau says that this was just a way for those in power to keep it, and convince the rest that it was in their best interest to accept the situation.
Having identified the problems of contemporary society that arose as humans evolved from the state of nature to organised civilisations, Rousseau wrote The Social Contract (1762), where he theorized about the best way to establish a political society/community. He argues against the idea that monarchs are divinely appointed to be in power. According to him, true sovereignty should always be directed at public good. He proposes that the political society should be divided into two parts:
– a sovereign body that represents the general will and interests of people (including women, which was revolutionary for the time), which is the legislative power within the state
– a government, which is separate from the sovereign bodyFor Rousseau, the size of the territory to be governed decides the nature of a government (a monarchical government, elected aristocracy, democracy, or else..). He argues that small city- states are the form of a nation in which freedom of humans can flourish best.
Rousseau also wrote a treatise on education, called Emile, or On Education (1762), where he describes an educational system that would enable the individual to retain his innate goodness, while remaining a part of collective society. It is considered the first book on philosophy of education in Western culture.
Emile and The Social Contract caused great controversy in France and were immediately banned, following which Rousseau had to flee the country. His sentimental novel Julie or the New Heloise (1761), greatly influenced the Romantic movement, and his political ideals were championed by leaders of the French Revolution.