Rosseau Flashcards
J.J. Rousseau was born And died?
J.J. Rousseau was born in Geneva in the year 1712 and died in 1778.
Isaac Rousseau, his father was from the noble family of
Moyen, a family that was noted for the profession of watchmaking
His mother was
Suzanne Bernard Rousseau, from an upper class family
Rousseau saw poverty in his early days which forced him into
petty crimes such as stealing and sexual immorality.
In his book confession, Rousseau portrays himself as
purely an immoral person, and there was no crime that could not be found in him
Between1743 and 1744, the fortune of Rousseau was to change when he became the Secretary to the French Ambassador to Geneva, Sir Comte de Montaigu. However,
for eleven months, his salary suffered, and this made him to resign his post. This event also made him to have a kind of distrust of government bureaucracy
Rousseau became a notable social figure in 1750 when he responded to the essay debate organized by the Dijon Academy. The topic was on whether Science and Arts have been beneficial to mankind. The response of Rousseau was that,
they are the sources of human destruction. In other words, our world would have been better if not for civilization brought about by the works of Science and Arts.
Rousseau is an.
individualist
His political idea is about promoting and protecting the rights of the individuals, and a good political theory and government is the one that is able
to guarantee the freedom of the individuals, and that will still enable them to live together, doing what they will without infringing on the freedom of others.
For Rousseau, the State of Nature was
good but it was later degenerated when wants and desires grew. It started with the growth of science and technology which culminated into civilization. The activity of one man led to the civil society when he enclosed a piece of land and began to claim authority over it
What did he advocate for
General will
Separation of power
He believes One is free so long as
he lives in conformity with the general will but he cannot act outside the content of the will.
The Social Contract (1762). This book was a response to
the genius of theologian Hugo Grotius (On the Law of War and Peace, 1625), and Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651), as well as John Locke (Two Treatises of Government, 1689).
What is social contract according to him
Social contract theory states that people sacrifice individual freedoms for protection by the state.
