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Book No. – 4 (Political Science)
Book Name – Western Political Thought (Shefali Jha)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. ROUSSEAU AND ROMANTICISM
2. NATURAL DIFFERENCES AND SOCIAL INEQUALITIES
3. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND MORAL MAN
4. THE GENERAL WILL
5. ROUSSEAU’S PARADOXES
6. THE SOCIAL CONTRACT TRADITION
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Rousseau (1712–1778): The General Will and Moral and Political Liberty
Chapter – 8
Table of Contents
- Rousseau is a key figure in the social contractarian tradition, alongside Hobbes and Locke, but offers a strong critique of modern social and political institutions.
- Rousseau critiques the failure of modern institutions to fulfill their promise of equality, liberty, and democracy, questioning the progressiveness of modernity.
- Rousseau was born in Geneva, a republican city-state surrounded by monarchical kingdoms.
- The general council in Geneva, theoretically open to all male heads of households, had limited power. Real political power was held by the small council, composed of 20 members from patrician families.
- Geneva’s conflict between the patrician faction and the citizens’ lobby often led to struggles, with ordinary citizens advocating for greater political decision-making power.
- Rousseau, born in 1712, grew up in a neighborhood of artisans and was familiar with the arguments for popular sovereignty.
- His mother came from an upper-class family, while his father was a watchmaker. After his mother’s death, his father abandoned him at the age of 10.
- Rousseau was taken in by his uncle and attended school until his cousin left to become an army officer. Rousseau was then apprenticed to an engraver at the age of 13.
- At 16, Rousseau ran away from his apprenticeship, converted to Catholicism, and forfeited his Genevan citizenship.
- Rousseau wandered across European cities with no formal education, but gained support from wealthy women like Madame de Warens and Madame d’Epinay.
- He was self-taught, using his musical talents to establish himself in Paris, where he befriended French philosopheslike Diderot and d’Alembert, contributing to the Encyclopaedia.
- At the height of his musical career in 1756, Rousseau left Paris and settled in the countryside, writing his most famous works, Social Contract and Emile (both published in 1762).
- These works were condemned by the French parliament, prompting Rousseau to flee to Switzerland and later spend a year in England under David Hume’s protection.
- Rousseau wrote his major works between 1750–1762, including:
- Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750)
- Discourse on Inequality (1755)
- Political Economy article (1755)
- Emile (1762)
- The Social Contract (1762)
- Other works include the Constitution for Corsica (1765), Government of Poland (1771), and Confessions (published posthumously in 1782–1789).
- In 1776, Rousseau wrote Rousseau: Judge of Jean Jacques, analyzing and judging his own philosophical work.
- He began Reveries of the Solitary Walker (1776), a series of 10 walks where he reflects on his thoughts. His autobiographical writings serve as a defense of his philosophical and political ideas, especially after his books were banned.