Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an 18th century philosopher whose works influenced the French Revolution. He rejected the progress of modern society, dismissing it as artificial and destructive of natural culture. Rousseau believed that in the state of nature, before the emergence of private property and civil society, humans were free, healthy and happy. However, the rise of private property and inequality corrupted human nature. He advocated for participatory democracy with sovereignty resting with the general will of the people. Rousseau defended the patriarchal family but believed women should have a different, non-speculative education. His works critiqued liberal representative government and emphasized public education and transforming human nature.

1. Enlightenment-SELF THINKING-
SCIENCE-MASTERING THE WORLD
• An European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th
centuries in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and
humanity were synthesized into a worldview that gained wide
assent in the West and that instigated revolutionary
developments in art, philosophy, and politics.
• Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration
of REASON, the power by which humans understand the
universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational
humanity were considered to be KNOWLEDGE, FREEDOM,
AND HAPPINESS.

2. A revolt against reason and product of enlightenment…
Spiritual father of French Revolution
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

3. Books
• Discourse on the Arts and Sciences
• Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men
• Emile, or On Education
• The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right

4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Endorsed simplicity, innocence, poverty, virtue and natural
behaviour [Gandhi???]
• Rejected progress based on the arts and sciences
• Dismissed modern society as false and
artificial...because...destroyed natural & true culture

5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• State of nature
• Analysis of Inequality
• Institution of Private Property
• Civil Society
• General Will & Individual Freedom
• Role of the legislator
• Critique of liberal representative parliamentary government
• Education
• Women & Family

6. • State of nature
– Individual guided by instinct and not by reason
–Individual possessed will and desire for
perfectibility
–Interested in self – preservation
–Free, healthy, honest and happy

7. Analysis of Inequality
• Human beings in nature roughly equal…social processes
corrupted…so inequality…Modern civilization created
artificial inequalities…repudiated abilities as justification for
inequalities…
• He permitted 2 inequalities…
– natural inequality like strong/weak, young/old…
– who rendered special service to community
• Advocated social equality i.e. equality of opportunity…but
NOT total equality
• Golden mean would emerge …no division of labour…akin
to Marxist utopia

8. Institution of Private Property
• Institution of Private Property was absent in the state of
nature (=Hobbes)
• Could become instrument of private domination ( ≠Locke)
• Root of moral corruption and injustice
• General Will to control Private Property
• Reason for emergence of civil society (for Hobbes
security/self preservation)
• Not advocated common ownership
• Property right within the community
• Indictment of property on moral ground (=Plato)

9. Civil Society
• State of nature to Civil Society abrupt (no proper
explanation)
• By the will of human beings
• Property

10. General Will & Individual Freedom
• General Will
– General Will-basis of legitimate power
– Right polity…Society & individual complementary…Justice and Utility may in no case be divided…
enhance freedom…virtue
– Direct Democracy - Participatory Democracy - Appealed Human Equality
– Legislative Will superior NOT executive will (=Locke)
– Not will of Majority...
– Government agent of General Will
– COMMON ME
– Political Moralist... Constitution builder
• Individual Freedom
Highlighted the problem of Freedom vs. Authority
Not absence of coercion
Liberty…Positive liberty…Moral liberty
Total surrender to political community [Hobbes to third party]
Sovereignty in the body politic...Popular Sovereignty...inalienable and indivisible... Sovereignty-
omnipotent, omnipresent
 Religion necessary...formation of national spirit

11. • Role of the legislator
– Superhuman responsibilities
– Transform individuals
– Alter constitution to strengthen it
– Independent of people but devote to their happiness
– Aware of the size of territory-state

12. CRITIQUE OF LIBERAL
REPRESENTATIVE PARLIAMENTARY
GOVERNMENT
• Participatory democracy desirable
• Primacy of politics [=Plato]
• Liberal representative parliamentary government-
illusion of freedom...So rejected
• Ruled out competitiveness in economics as well as
politics…ruled out factions and organised interest
groups

13. • Education
Role of Education...moulding character
Public education
• Women & Family
– Defended patriarchal family
– Subordinate position to women
– Different education for women-not suitable to abstract
and speculative truths
– Women Subversive force within the political
system[=Hegel;≠Plato]

14. Other thoughts
• Transformation of human nature from a
narrow self seeking being into a public-
spirited person
• State represented the pinnacle of human
existence…however state & individual both
sovereign
• International federation
• Upheld Rule of Law (=Locke)
• Not Eurocentric

15. Check your understanding
1. Rousseau derived a great deal of inspiration from Locke,
but differed significantly – Elucidate
2. The Social Contract sounded the death knell of
individualism – substantiate
3. Why it is not possible to interpret Rousseau within a
single framework of analysis?

16. Source

17. Romanticism
• Today the word ‘romantic’ evokes images of love and sentimentality, but the term
‘Romanticism’ has a much wider meaning. It covers a range of developments in art,
literature, music and philosophy, spanning the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The ‘Romantics’ would not have used the term themselves: the label was applied
retrospectively, from around the middle of the 19th century.
• Here was an emphasis on the importance of the individual; a conviction that people
should follow ideals rather than imposed conventions and rules. The Romantics
renounced the rationalism and order associated with the preceding Enlightenment
era, stressing the importance of expressing authentic personal feelings. They had a
real sense of responsibility to their fellow men: they felt it was their duty