Jean Jacques Rousseau
Some Major Works:
Discourse on the Arts
and Sciences
 Discourse on the Origin
of Inequality Among Man
 Emile, or On Education
 The Social Contract
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Discourse on the Arts and Sciences
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Criticizes education: not
progressing us to anything
good
Education just makes us
deceive ourselves and
others – we try to fit in
Leads to individuality,
makes us self interested
consumers
Teaches us ‘reason’
Puts flowers on our chains –
just hiding inequality
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Where ever science and math flourished,
luxury and leisure flourish
They are born from our vices, and do
nothing to improve the moral well being of
society
Don’t contribute anything to love of country,
friends, or the unfortunate
Science does not give any guidance for
making people more virtuous citizens
We learn to hate ourselves because the
masks we have to wear
To cope, we hate the people below us
Science is based on a sense of a need
for luxury
 Science becomes a means for making
our lives easier and more pleasurable,
not morally better
 Bacon and Descartes avoided this
corruption
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Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Among Man
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He creates his own state of
nature
Humans physically strong, but
simple, very independent
Hobbes had it wrong, he tried to
create the state of nature
without stripping what humans
have learned
All he did was strip laws
For us to understand the state
of nature, there can be no laws,
property, understanding of
threat, minimal language skills
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Natural man is isolated, timid, peaceful, mute
and without the foresight to worry
Humans have two principles – self interest, and
empathy...But we have reason
We have adaptability – leads to progress i.e. fire
Humans forced to settle down, but roughly equal
Series of events move us from the ‘noble
savage’
Organize into temporary groups – hunting
Very basic language
Next is small families based on love
If we stayed here, there would be no inequality
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But, agriculture and metallurgy change this
Crucial point develops – we start to make
comparisons to others –develop self image and
things become valuable
Division of labour, distinct social classes,
workers, rulers: leads to invention of private
property
Unnatural, but education teaches us its legit
Some people left out of property grab – see it as
illegitimate
Great Deception – rich convince the poor private
property needs to be protected
All accepted their chains
The Social Contract
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Discussion on Government and
Rights of the People
1st step – make us all equal : give up
the ‘natural right’ to property
Help us to distinguish between needs
and wants, help us to resurrect
empathy
Everyone has enough so they don’t
have to sell ourselves
When we see each other as equals,
we are able to see one another as
citizens
We’ll look forward to what people say
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Outlines how governments could exist to
protect equality of citizens
Concept of general will – difficult to interpret:
based on the well being of the whole, protects
the rights of all individuals
Protected by a sovereign, protects the public
good
Not the collection of individual wills
Ultimately my will, and general will merges
Example – majority- collection of individual
wills
If you have: lack of prosperity, no population
growth, legislative body silent, disparity,
religious faction – no social contract
If the one is being sacrificed by the many – no
social contract