Rousseau describes the ideal form of this social contract and also explains its philosophical underpinnings. Accordingly, though all laws must uphold the rights of equality among citizens and individual freedom, Rousseau states that their particulars can be made according to local circumstances.
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How does Rousseau account for individual rights?
Rousseau describes the ideal form of this social contract and also explains its philosophical underpinnings. Accordingly, though all laws must uphold the rights of equality among citizens and individual freedom, Rousseau states that their particulars can be made according to local circumstances.
How did Rousseau view human nature?
Rousseau proclaimed the natural goodness of man and believed that one man by nature is just as good as any other. For Rousseau, a man could be just without virtue and good without effort. According to Rousseau, man in the state of nature was free, wise, and good and the laws of nature were benevolent.
What did Jean-Jacques Rousseau believe in?
Rousseau argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and to make the laws of the land. Rousseau had in mind a democracy on a small scale, a city-state like his native Geneva.
What is Jean-Jacques Rousseau best known for?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau is famous for reconceiving the social contract as a compact between the individual and a collective “general will” aimed at the common good and reflected in the laws of an ideal state and for maintaining that existing society rests on a false social contract that perpetuates inequality and rule by …
What is the main cause of inequality according to Rousseau?
Rousseau describes the ravages of modernity on human nature and civilization inequality are nested according to the Genevan thinker. The natural inequality stems from differences in age, health, or other physical characteristics. The moral inequality is established by a convention of men.
What is Rousseau’s Second Discourse?
Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality, also referred to as the Second Discourse, was published in 1755 in response to an essay competition held by the Academy of Dijon on the question of what was the “the origin of inequality among men” and whether such inequality was “authorized by the natural law?” Rousseau maintained …