The nature of government

1. Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
Born: June 28, 1712
Died: July 2, 1778
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Those who think
themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they."
— Rousseau, The Social Contract

2. Rousseau: The Extreme
Democrat
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher,
writer, and composer. His political philosophy
influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment
throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French
Revolution and the development of modern political,
economic, and educational thought.

3. Contemporary Issues
with Education
The problem in the state of nature, Rousseau said, was to
find a way to protect everyone’s life, liberty, and property
while each person remained free.
In 1762, Rousseau published his most important work on
political theory. The Social Contract. His opening line is
still striking today. “ Man is born free, and everywhere he
is in chains.” Rousseau agreed with locke that the
individual should never be forced to give up his or her
natural right to a king.

4. Resolving The Issue
Rousseau's solution was for people to enter into a
social contract. They would give up all their right
to a “Whole Community”. The people then
exercised their “ General Will” to make laws for
the “ Public Good.”

5. Bibliography
Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote the
philosophical treatises
A discourse on the Origins of Inequality (1755)
The Social Contract (1762)
Novels Julie; or, The New Eloise (1761)
Emile; or, On Education (1762)
Autobiographical Confessions (1782-1789),
among other works.

6. Summary
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the 18th century’s most
important political thinkers. He does not claim that a whole
society can be forced to be free but only that occasional
individuals, who are enslaved by their passions to the extent of
disobeying the law, can be restored by force to obedience to the
voice of the general will that exists inside of them. Persons who
are coerced by society for a breach of the law are, in Rousseau’s
view, being brought back to an awareness of their own true
interests. The main idea included: Belief that man was born
basically good, and the idea that society is what corrupts
mankind.

7. Citations
Photo of jean-jacques rousseau
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1019US1019&q=jean-jacques+rousseau&tbm=isch&sa=
X&ved=2ahUKEwiIi5ul6cX_AhV0mmoFHfcbCr4Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=1366&bih=695&dpr=1
Bibliography: www.britannica.com
Contemporary Issues with Education
Wikipedia: Two Treatises of Government
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Malaspina Great Books: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Google Directory: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract photo:
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1019US1019&q=the+social+contract&tbm=isch&sa=X&
ved=2ahUKEwjWttSckcj_AhXjmGoFHX9wDsAQ0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=1366&bih=695&dpr=1