Philosophy 4: Paper Two (Prompt #2)
Rousseau believes that even when one votes in the minority they can obey the law and still be free. But, “how can the opposing minority be both free and subject to laws to which they have not consented?” (Rousseau, pg. 153) Rousseau’s response is that citizens must consent to all the laws because “ to inhabit the territory is to submit to the sovereign.”(Rousseau, p.153) In accordance with the social contract, when a citizen votes they should completely surrender their personal interest and vote for what they believe to be the general will. The general will of each individual is considered to be their real will when it comes to social policy. The majority vote will depict the general will, and the minority shows the citizens that are mistaken about the true nature of the general will. (Rousseau, p.153) Therefore, even if you voted with the minority and ended up being wrong about your real will, you still remained true to obeying your own reasons and deliberated freely. In the end what you wanted was the general will and voting is how you find out what it is. I do not believe that Rousseau’s reasoning succeeds because he does not give an adequate explanation for how the people voting are suppose to identify what the general will is.
In order to live in a particular state a citizen must agree to live by the rules of that state or prepare to possibly be punished for not consenting. Rousseau believes men came together to avoid extinction by combining forces and implementing a set of laws and motives in order to establish more power. The social contract provides a way of combining the efforts to bond society, without sacrificing individual freedom. In order to accomplish this, each individual ...
... middle of paper ...
...aving people vote according to what they think would be best for the general good, maybe it would be to get an idea of the interest of each member of society and use the sum of their results to produce what the best way to reach the general will would be. There are several other options that may considered that with further study may prove to be more reasonable than Rousseau’s view on the topic.
Work Cited
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. Harmondsworth (Middx.): Penguin, 1971. 49-154. Web. .
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)
At the core of their theories, both Locke and Rousseau seek to explain the origin of civil society, and from there to critique it, and similarly both theorists begin with conceptions of a state of nature: a human existence predating civil society in which the individual does not find institutions or laws to guide or control one’s behaviour. Although both theorists begin with a state of nature, they do not both begin with the same one. The Lockean state of nature is populated by individuals with fully developed capacities for reason. Further, these individuals possess perfect freedom and equality, which Locke intends as granted by God. They go about their business rationally, acquiring possessions and appropriating property, but they soon realize the vulnerability of their person and property without any codified means to ensure their security...
In his essay, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Rousseau attempts to explain the relationship between the formation of political and social institutions and the state of human nature. Before going into depth regarding the state of human nature, Rousseau starts by first demonstrating the first crucial steps in human evolution and the effects these steps had on the development of inequality. Rousseau believes that the combination of these concepts are important to understanding where we came from, who we are now as a society and what our society will resemble in the future.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a philosopher that helped develop concepts such as general will, and improved on the early norms on child-raising. Born in Geneva, he was a “citizen” of the city. “Citizens” were the two hundred members of the Grand Council of Geneva, which made most of the political decisions in state. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an important part of the Enlightenment. He led an interesting life, as told by his three memoirs, had a solid philosophy, did not believe in reason, and left a lasting legacy that still affects us today.
A key concept in liberal democracy is based on a consensus (shared thoughts and judgements from the public). This can be supported by a quote from Price who says a key concept of liberal democracy at a starting point refers to “collective judgements outside the sphere of government that affect political decision making” (Price, 1992 8). Price’s quote elaborates the importance of public opinion within politics especially within a liberal democracy. The concept of public opinion developed around the time of the emergence of the enlightenment theory. A key theorist in the enlightenment theory was Rousseau. Rousseau developed the ‘general will’ of the people. The ‘general will’ consisted of the desires and interests of the public as a whole rather than as individuals. Rousseau’s ‘general will’ exhibits the development of public opinion as people in society shifted from individualistic views and desires to shared judgements and desires which helped to form public opinion and the public sphere.
Both Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx had some doubts concerning works of Locke and Hobbes about democracy. Still, their delay originated from distinctive bases. For Rousseau, the issue was mostly political; particularly, the question of liberal independence and assent as the special part of managing government. Rousseau's choice was 'General will'. Marx's opinion was farther radical. Trading and loaning was the issue and just by upsetting the economic class framework could a practical unbiased state be made. So, the aim of this paper is to discuss and evaluate differences between Rousseau and Marx’s points of view.
...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.
In the Social Contract, Rousseau discusses the idea of forced freedom. “Whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be constrained to do so by the entire body; which means nothing other than that he shall be forced to be free” (Rousseau, SC, Bk 1. Ch. 7). This forced freedom is necessary for a government that is run by the people and not a small group of few to one sovereign(s). For forced freedom allows a difference of opinions but the outcome is the idea with the greatest acceptance. Because political rule requires the consent of the ruled, the citizens of the state are required to take action within their community.
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...
In The Social Contract philosophers John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau discuss their differences on human beings’ place of freedom in political societies. Locke’s theory is when human beings enter society we tend to give up our natural freedom, whereas Rousseau believes we gain civil freedom when entering society. Even in modern times we must give up our natural freedom in order to enforce protection from those who are immoral and unjust.
Rousseau had many ideas about how society as a whole should work. His main ideas involve man requiring freedom. With this freedom we theoretically will not compare ourselves to one another, or strive towards being better than others. His other main ideas include the general will and the idea of a collective sovereignty. These suggest that society and government should please the general will and work together as a cohesive unit.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract and The First and Second Discourses. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002. (sourced from Otis database)
Rousseau believes the solution to having the obedience of men and their loyalty to the
The final problem of political philosophy is history. Rousseau believes the history of a state is progressive and moves in a linear fashion. Rousseau believes change in government can and should occur. He believes the general will, or all the people of a state, should meet periodically to evaluate their government. At that time the government has ended and the general will should decide whether to continue the current government or make changes. Rousseau also believes that no state will last forever, every state will eventually deteriorate. This comes when the general will begins to act for the private will of individuals eventually this can lead to revolution and the state will ultimately dissolve.
The French economy in the eighteenth century was on the brink of collapse, due to two costly interventions in colonial wars across the Atlantic. The Third Estate, which constituted the majority of the French population, received horrendous taxation rates in order to save the floundering French government, which desperately needed funds to pay off the nation’s debt. Accordingly, Rousseau's vision of government in which "a people could only be free if it ruled itself" became incredibly popular amongst the French populace, due to the appealing idea of the French citizens controlling the government rather than an absolute monarch. However, even though Rousseau did not directly prefer a republic, (for he saw representatives as the removal of power amongst the non representative population) his ideas regarding the people's rights to create their own laws and effectively control the government, indirectly spurred on the creation of the French repub...