Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean Jacques Rousseau is one of the most influential thinkers of the modern world and also in the era of Enlightenment in 18th Century Europe. Rousseau's prominent philosophical work, A Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, was a thrilling response to an essay competition held by the Academy of Dijon in 1750. In his philosophical work, Rousseau proposed the enhancement of the science and arts has led to the corruption of virtue and morality. Rousseau was able to garner fame and recognition by pushing this Discourse into the mainstream. It also reaped the ground for his second philosophical work, which would be a slightly extended one, The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. The second Discourse did not let him win the Academy's prize. However, it was widely circulated, read, discussed, and deliberated among the readers. It also contributed to cementing the place of Rousseau as an important intellectual figure in the academic circle. The central argument put forth was that Human beings are inherently good by nature but have been distorted and contaminated due to the occurrence of complex past events in civil society. Rousseau compliments the nature continuing theme in the later of his Discourse as well. Some of the most remarkable and comprehensive contributions include the philosophy of Education and the biggest prominent political philosophical work, The Social Contract. Both of these works were published in 1762. His works spurred the massive controversy in France, which led to the banning of the Book by the French Administration. Rousseau had to escape from France, took shelter, and settled in Switzerland. However, his problems with the Administration continue, and he fights with his friends. Book released like The Confessions, Rousseau: Judge of Jean Jacques, The Reveries of the Solitary Walker has continued efforts to propagate, and justify his life and works. Rousseau was also heavily influenced by Immanuel Kant's work on ethics. The novel Julie or the New Heloise influenced the late Eighteenth Century Romantic Naturalism movement and his political ideas were admired and Championed by the French Revolution leader. Early LifeRousseau was born to Suzanne Bernard and Isaac Rousseau in Geneva on 28 June 1712. His mother departed early, and his sibling, an older brother of Rousseau, fled from his home; then, Rousseau was a child. Rousseau was mainly raised under the vision of his father, who was a clockmaker. He studied ancient Greek and Roman literature, like the Lives of Plutarch. His father landed up in a fight with a French captain, which became the point for the risk of imprisonment, and this reason compelled him to leave Geneva.  Rousseau was left to stay in Geneva with Uncle. His uncle sent him to the village of the Bosey to study along with his cousin. Rousseau took training to become an engraver and started to learn a trade. He did not hate his work but thought that his master would be violent and oppressive. So, he left Geneva in 1728 and escaped to Annecy. At Annecy, he came to Louise de Warens, who played a key role in converting him to Catholicism, which compelled him to surrender his Genevan citizenship. The relationship between Mme De Warens and Rousseau survived for many years and also turned romantic. Then, the source of earning was musical jobs, teaching, and secretarial. In 1742, Rousseau traveled to Paris to become a musician and composer. He was at the French Embassy in Venice, serving for two years in the post, and returned in 1745, where he met Therese Levasseur, who also became his wife at a later point in time. They got married in 1768. Their marriage life resulted in five children all of whom left to a Paris orphanage. At this point, he was also coming in contact and turning friendly with philosophers like Diderot and Condillac. He was also involved on so many articles that were based upon music for Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopedia. He also released an essay, Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, as a response to the Academy of Dijon's essay contest, and the query posed was, "Has the restoration of the science and arts tended to purify morals?". This Discourse made him popular in the academic circle and also steered him to clinch the Academy's prize. His work became very popular and, to an extent, controversial for some people; criticizing the arts and sciences in his first Discourse made him a villain of progress. Music had a predominant role in the life of Rousseau. In the later period of his life, his opera, Le Devin du Village, was a resounding success and garnered lots of fame and recognition. But then, Rousseau preferred to live a modest life despite possessing such large popularity. When his opera became a hit, he renounced music. By the turn of 1753 autumn, Rousseau made an entry to another essay competition declared by the Academy of Dijon. The theme of the question thrown up was, "What is the origin of inequality among men, and does the natural law authorize it"? Rousseau's response would become the Discourse on the origin of Inequality Among Men. Rousseau believed that this essay would be grand to the First Discourse as it was slightly bigger and philosophically daring. The judge felt disgusted and bored due to the significant length, and the Discourse was bold and made unorthodox philosophical claims. They did not even read the full length of the text. Rousseau had prepared to publish it somewhere similar to his First Discourse. The Discourse was widely circulated, read, and discussed in the public circle. By the turn of 1756, a year after the publication of the second Discourse, Rousseau and Therese Levasseur quit Paris after being invited to a house in the country of Mme. D'Epinay, a friend to the philosophies. He stopped there for only a year and got engaged in an affair with a woman called Sophie d'Houdetot, who was the mistress of his friend Saint-Lambert. Due to repeated fights with Mme in 1757 and with other guests like D'Epinay, Diderot shifted to lodgings close to the country home of the Duke of Luxemburg at Montmorency. At this time, Rousseau penned down some of the significant works of his life. By 1761, he wrote a novel, Julie or the New Heloise, which became one of the best-selling novels of the Century. Just a year later, he released two significant philosophical treatises: The Social Contract, which was a comprehensive work on political philosophy published in April, and Emile, released in May, covered his opinion on Education. Paris authorities criticized both of his works for the claims he made concerning religion. It also becomes the source of reason for him to flee from France. He moved and settled in Switzerland, where he started with his autobiography. The name of the autobiography was The Confession. Later, he faced some difficulties with the Swiss Administration; he spent some time in Paris and Berlin and subsequently moved to England at the invitation of David Hume. However, due to a fight with Hume, he just stayed for one year in England and returned to the southeast of France Incognito in 1767. He spent 3 years in the southeast of France; Rousseau shifted back to Paris and started his living by copying music. During this period of his life, he penned Rousseau: Judge of Jean Jacques and the Reveries of the Solitary Walker, which became his final work. He departed from the earth on 3 July 1778. His autobiography became public after many years of his death, and his political writing later in the 19th Century, The Autobiography of the Rousseau: The ConfessionsRouseauu has comprehensively mentioned his life in his autobiography. Rousseau penned down his autobiography very later after his career and did not release it during his lifetime. However, "Reveries of the Solitary Walker" and the "Rousseau Judge of Jean Jacques," two of his prominent works, are also autobiographical. The striking feature of his autobiography is the apologetic tone that he has employed to explain the instances of public and private life that spurred controversy in society. It is conspicuous that Rousseau has used autobiography to justify some of the unreasonable attacks that have been made on his character and misunderstandings associated with his philosophical work. His life was ridden with confrontation and conflict, first when he was under training, later with other scholarly thought leaders such as Voltaire and Diderot, and even with the Swiss and Paris Administration and also with David Hume. Rousseau has mentioned this confrontation and put forth his explanation and opinion on these issues. He criticizes himself and takes onus for the occurrence of some of these events, even his extra-marital relationship. Rousseau simultaneously tried to justify his deeds for public approval, and he was firm about his uniqueness as a critic with the same public. Starting of Modern Philosophy and the Enlightenment Chronologically, Rousseau is considered to be an Enlightened thinker, and his works revolved around the middle and later Eighteenth Centuries. However, there is debate to consider the work of Rousseau as enlightening and counter-enlightening. During the Enlightenment era, the major objective was offering a solid foundation to the philosophy that was free from particular traditions, religions, or cultures; only rationality should prevail. The projects have roots in the emergence of modern philosophy. The State of Nature as a base for Ethics and Political PhilosophyThe boundaries of Modern Philosophy were just not curtailed to issues associated with science and metaphysics. Philosophers of this era started applying the same reason to ethics and politics. The primary approach of the contemporaries thinker was that present Human beings in the "State of Nature." It means they cut human beings from those characteristics that they assumed to be the results of the social convention. By basing such an assumption, they made an effort to explore certain attributes that are universal and constant. If this can be achieved, one could find the most legitimate and effective form of government. Prior to Rousseau's work, two works by John Locke and Thomas Hobbes also premised the state of nature as their basis of the work. Hobbes has described Human Beings are inspired entirely by self-interest and that of the state of nature. It is the state of human beings devoid of Civil society, and human beings are ultimately against everyone. Hobbes claims that the state of nature may not have been prevalent all over the world at one point in time. The state of nature, according to him was the the condition in which humans would be if there were no sovereign. Lock understanding state of nature is different from Hobbes's and holds that it is the intellectual exercise to illustrate people's obligations to one another. These commitments have been understood in terms of natural rights that encompass the Right to Life, Liberty, and Property. Rousseau was inspired by the works of modern natural law tradition which made an effort to answer the problem of skepticism through a systematic approach to human behavior like Hobbes stressed the self-interest. Rousseau more often visited the works of Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, Jean Barbeyrac, Samuel von Pufendorf, and Hugo Grotius. Rousseau presented his version of the state of nature in the Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men. Rousseau Major Work Rousseau's concerns and ideas, as outlined in the text, reveal a complex and nuanced perspective on the relationship between liberty and authority. Let's break down some key points:
General Will
The Objective of the General WillSince man cannot go back to a state of nature, he has to find a system of authority that ensures liberty. When a man is under self-made laws, then, at that point, man will be free under the presence of the state. At that point, man will also participate in the formulation of laws. Theory of SovereigntyTypes of Sovereignty
Rousseau introduced the concept of popular sovereignty, where the supreme authority is the General Will. Popular sovereignty is based on the idea that sovereignty lies with the people, and it involves both rights and duties. It stands for the supreme authority of the general will in the society. General will reflecting the higher self of each Rousseau member is morally superior to actual will. The sovereignty of the General will ensure the rule of the right reason, which is constantly devoted to the common good. General will is elevated to the position of an absolute, unlimited, and inalienable sovereignty. Rousseau starts by describing civil society as an expression of superior will but ends up treating it as an expression of superior reason. He starts with the mechanistic view of the state but ends up with the organic view of the state. Rousseau's concept of popular sovereignty doesn't rely on any principle of higher law but regards the organized power of the people as the source of all reason to determine what is right or wrong. Rousseau commended popular sovereignty for two reasons:
The first reason considers sovereignty as a right and the second one as a duty. The two concepts were often mixed up, leading to the rise of absolutism or totalitarianism. When a sovereign is not bound by duty, he is no longer capable of upholding true democracy. Rousseau's ParadoxesRousseau is seen as a liberal for his concern for liberty, a socialist for his critique of private property and emphasis on social change, and an inspiration for totalitarians due to his concept of the infallible General Will. Rousseau is known as a thinker of paradoxes. His ideas give rise to contradictory thoughts. On one hand, he is seen as the champion of liberty. On the other hand, his theory provides the basis for the justification of state absolutism/totalitarianism. Some scholars believe that there is no difference between Hobbes's 'Leviathan' and Rousseau's General Will. If Hobbes suggests that "covenants without sword are nothing but words," Rousseau suggests, "Man should be forced to be free." The concept of "Man should be forced to be free" has been criticized for its potential manipulation by totalitarian leaders. Totalitarian leaders like Hitler and Mussolini manipulated Rousseau's ideas to justify the absolute powers of the state. However, it would be an injustice to Rousseau if we call him a totalitarian. When Rousseau gives the concept of the general will, he also gives the pre-requisite that people should be participating in the formulation of laws, acting with their real will. The concept is very similar to the Gandhian concept of Swaraj. Though totalitarian leaders have manipulated his thoughts, it is wrong to call him totalitarian. ConclusionRousseau's philosophy reflects a tension between the desire for individual liberty and the need for a social and political structure. His concept of the General Will and popular sovereignty, while aiming for the reconciliation of liberty and authority, has also been subject to diverse interpretations and criticisms, making Rousseau a thinker with a complex and multifaceted legacy. Next TopicKhushi kapoor |
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