Jean Jacques Rousseau Throughout his life, Rousseau suffered from severe emotional distress, and feelings of deep inferiority and guilt. Rousseau's actions and writings reflect his attempts to overcome this sense of inadequacy and to find a place in world that only seemed to reject him. His political philosophy influenced the development of the French Revolution, and his theories have had a great impact on education and literature. Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28, 1712 and later died on July 2, 1778. He was the second of two sons born to Isaac and Suzanne Bernard Rousseau. Tragically, his mother died while giving birth, and along with this his father blamed him for her death, leaving Rousseau with unbearable guilt. As a boy, he read Plutarch's Lives and contemporary novels, but did not receive much formal schooling. At the age of thirteen Rousseau became and engraver's apprentice. In 1728, he ran away from Geneva saying that he was forced to endue cruel punishment from his master. Around the age of seventeen he was taken in by a priest that introduced him to Madame Louise de Warens, to whom he was sent for conversion and baptism into the Roman Catholic religion. However, she soon became his mistress in an on and off relationship that lasted until 1736 due to its increasing agony. Rousseau was often in trouble for fighting and stealing. As a result of living this way, he fled to Paris in 1741 seeking fame. He composed an opera called Les Muses galantes, which led to a correspondence with Voltaire, Denis Diderot, and other French philosophers, some of whom were engaged in producing the Encyclopedia. Rousseau contributed several pieces on music to this project. But, it was not unt... ... middle of paper ... ...78, he returned to copying music to make a living. He also wrote many more books, one of which was Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques, Dialogues. Also among those were the ten, classic, meditations of Reveries of the Solitary Walker. With these final works, Rousseau became know as one of the first "Romantic" writers. After learning of Rousseau's philosophies, I agree with almost everything that he believes. When looking at the Social Contract, I believe he is one hundred percent correct with saying that people have a part in making the general will and should not let private or personal interest get in the way. Now when it comes to his views on education, I have to slightly disagree with him. I don't believe children should be left to entirely teach themselves. They need supervision from the adults that have been through life and that have knowledge to pass on.
Rousseau believes its possible to have both complete freedom and yet also legitimate authority. The essential outline Rousseau paints an equal relation between freedom and the authority of state. He argues that we as naturally free people, if it doesn't detract from our freedom. `If one must obey because of force, one need not do so out of duty; and if one is no longer forced to obey one is no longer obliged' (Rousseau: Cress (ed.), 1987, bk1, ch.3, p.143). Therefore Rousseau has shown that superior power, naked force or power through tradition is not the source of any legitimate authority the state has over us. Rousseau's fundamental problem is to find a solution of structuring the state so that we can live in a state and yet remain as free as possible. Hence, by sacrificing our particular will on major social or national matters in favour of the general will we are ennobled and freed .
Albert Camus, the second son of Lucien and Catherine Camus was born in Mondovi, French Algeria on November 7, 1913.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a man of philosophy, music, and literature. His philosophy was that humanity will do what’s best for the state as a whole, rather than the general “every man for himself” philosophy. He says that while we do have a piece of that individualistic philosophy, it is when they are in a healthy state that they value fairly the collective good for everyone around them, and express the general sense of good will. Rousseau believes that people will recognize that the will of all is the common good, but that in itself raises the questions as to the validity ...
"Pierre Etienne Theodore Rousseau, (1812-l867)." Lawrence J. Cantor and Company: Fine Old Art. Fine Old Art. Web. 19 Dec. 2011.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in June 28, 1712 in Geneva and passed away in July 2, 1778 in France. He was an important philosopher during the French Enlightment. Rousseau had beliefs and they were that man is naturally born pure and good but society is the reason c...
Rousseau, however, believed, “the general will by definition is always right and always works to the community’s advantage. True freedom consists of obedience to laws that coincide with the general will.”(72) So in this aspect Rousseau almost goes to the far extreme dictatorship as the way to make a happy society which he shows in saying he, “..rejects entirely the Lockean principle that citizens possess rights independently of and against the state.”(72)
The reason Rousseau desires self-containment is because he feels that “everything is in constant flux on this earth” (88) and he feels there is no way anyone could be happy without
Overall Rousseau explanation of the state of nature and social contract are extremely interesting and enticing. Past that it does seem hard to believe, given the supporting data, that humans are not social animals and that a time when humans were completely good. If one of the two main points were to fail, as they truly are the foundation of Rousseau arguments, it seems it would cause his conclusion to fail as well. Unfortunately his arguments lack the backing they need to create a truly infallible argument or beyond reasonable doubt. This does not suggest at all that his ideas are false or are not supported, just that they are on shaky ground.
Jean Jacques Rousseau in On Education writes about how to properly raise and educate a child. Rousseau's opinion is based on his own upbringing and lack of formal education at a young age. Rousseau depicts humanity as naturally good and becomes evil because humans tamper with nature, their greatest deficiency, but also possess the ability to transform into self-reliant individuals. Because of the context of the time, it can be seen that Rousseau was influenced by the idea of self-preservation, individual freedom, and the Enlightenment, which concerned the operation of reason, and the idea of human progress. Rousseau was unaware of psychology and the study of human development. This paper will argue that Rousseau theorizes that humanity is naturally good by birth, but can become evil through tampering and interfering with nature.
Jean-Paul Sartre was born on June 21, 1905, and lost his father a little over a year later. His mother, Anne-Marie was raised uneducated in an educated family and moved back in with her own father, the teacher Karl Schweitzer, uncle of the famous philosopher and missionary, Albert Schweitzer. She promptly lost control of her infant son. Jean-Paul became the immediate favorite of his g...
...ion with the general will. This may sound like a contradiction but, to Rousseau, the only way the body politic can function is by pursuing maximum cohesion of peoples while seeking maximum individuation. For Rousseau, like Marx, the solution to servitude is, in essence, the community itself.
Although he lived a short life, it was very productive with this many writings and novels. Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 in Dieppe, France to aristocratic parents. His father was a flirtatious man that had many affairs, which led to Guy’s parents divorce at the age of eleven. Guy was a good student throughout school and then in 1869 he began to study law in Paris.
Firstly, each individual should give themselves up unconditionally to the general cause of the state. Secondly, by doing so, all individuals and their possessions are protected, to the greatest extent possible by the republic or body politic. Lastly, all individuals should then act freely and of their own free will. Rousseau thinks th...
On the 21st of June 1905, Anne-Marie Schweitzer and Jean-Baptiste Sartre gave birth to their one and only child, Jean Paul Sartre. Anne-Marie was forced to raise Jean-Paul all by herself after Sartre’s father, John-Baptiste, died. Jean Paul Sartre became interested in philosophy after reading the essay “Time and Free Will” by Henri Bergson. In 1929, Sartre met Simone de Beauvoir. Beauvoir, who later on became a celebrated philosopher, stayed friends with Sartre throughout his entire life and would be the closest thing to a wife Sartre would ever have. In 1939, Sartre was drafted into the French army as a meteorologist. He was captured by German troops in 1940 and spent nine months as a prisoner of war. After World War II, Sartre emerged as a politically engaged activist. He was an outspoken opponent of French rule in Algeria. He also embraced Marxism; a theory based on communism, and visited Cuba, me...
Rene Descartes was a man obsessed with finding things out for himself, an intellectual who contributed to the field of psychology. Born in the 16th century, Descartes grew up in a society where ideas, thoughts and perceptions were not questioned but were supposed to be understood and supported. While growing up and through his studies, Descartes began to make strides in the fields of philosophy, mathematics and science. Descartes was a man who challenged accepted ideas and aided the field of psychology through his contributions to reflex theory, helping describe the mind-body problem, and challenging accepted theological ideas.