Rousseau's Essential Nugget

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

(my reading was very long, so bear with me)
(and I don't know why everything is different fonts and size, the blog is not being cooperative)

• has two distinct social contract theories, found in his Second Discourse (an account of the moral and political evolution of human beings over time, from a State of Nature to modern society)
• naturalized/problematic account of the social contract
• normative/idealized theory of the social contract
• in his Second Discourse, he describes how the State of Nature progressed into civil society
• life used to be simple and peaceful, and there was no competition à when the population increased, there was more competition, conflict, and comparisons between people
• introduction of private property created more inequality, social classes, and ultimately the government to protect private property from those who don't have it
• invention of private property constitutes humanity's "fall from  grace" out of the State of Nature
• government claims to be in the interests of everyone equally, but it is really in the interests of the few who have become stronger and richer
• in The Social Contract, the normative social contract is supposed to respond to this state affairs and fix the social and moral ills that society has produced
• this distinction between the factual situation of mankind and how it ought to live together is very important to Rousseau à we must resolve the problems through our capacity to choose how we ought to live
• "Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains."
• humans are essentially free, but the "progress" of civilization has substituted subservience to others for that freedom, through dependence, economic and social inequalities, and the extent to which we judge ourselves through comparisons with others
• the purpose of politics is to restore freedom to us, reconciling who we are with how we live together à how can we be free and live together? how can we live together without succumbing to the force and coercion of others? à we can do so by submitting our individual wills to the collective/general will, created through agreement with other people
• since all men are naturally equal, no one has the right to govern others à the only justified authority is generated out of agreements/covenants
• most basic covenant = social pact, where people renounce their individual rights and become the foundation of society à general will is directed towards the common good now à the group is committed to the good of the individuals and the individuals are committed to the good of the group
• Rousseau implies a strong form of democracy where one can not transfer one's will to another
• the general will depends on every citizen coming together to decide how to live together, what laws to enact, etc.
• only possible in small states because people must be able to identify with each other and be united under common laws
• conditions for true democracy are strict and the only way we can save ourselves and regain the freedom to which we are naturally entitled
• in conclusion, we are endowed with freedom and equality by nature, but our nature has been corrupted by our social history à we can overcome this corruption by invoking our free will to reconstitute ourselves politically, along strongly democratic principles, which is good for us, both individually and collectively