In his works the discourse on the origins of inequality Rousseau attempts to explain how the world got into this mess. He explains “men in the state of nature” where there would be naturally unequal men but with no motive for dominance it is only in society that inequality matters. He believed society arouse when someone claimed a piece of land as his own and managed to convince others that it was his. This person was the founder of civil society. Unlike inequality in a state of nature inequality in property does matter. Out of the creation of Private property arouse ‘the second fraud perpetrated against society’ (McClelland, J.S 1996) which is law, where the force of the whole community is used to protect ill-gotten gains of a few. The elite in society manage to persuade everyone that the law applies equally to all where it really means that the rich in society get others to pay for what really only concerns them. (McClelland, J.S 1996)
In his work the Social contract Rousseau attempts to solve the problem posed by his confessions and by the discourse on the origins of inequality. He attempts to find out how to get societies out of the mess that they are in. The answer for Rousseau is Liberty but not the Liberty that is present in the state of nature, this liberty is forever lost and a new type of liberty must be found where man can enjoy a different type of liberty somewhat equal to that enjoyed in the state of nature. Rousseau thinks for this liberty to be found we have to look at the condition of our own society and what makes our societies so unsatisfactory for men. Rousseau argues that however much we want to control self interest we just have to accept it as a fact. (McClelland, J.S 1996) Rousseau believed that some people are more free than others, the rich are less dependant than others and the poor are less likely to get what they wish for. For Rousseau men are going to be completely free or they are not going to be free at all.
“The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the
Whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and which each,
While uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free
As before” This is the fundamental problem for which the social contract finds
the solution. (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1997)
For this to happen everyone has to give themselves up to the general will and if everyone else will do the same their will be a social contract.
This public person, so formed by the union of all other persons formerly took the
name of city and now takes that of Republic or body politic; it is called by
its members State when passive. Sovereign when active, and power when
compared with others like itself. Those who are associated in it take
collectively the name of people. (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1997)
For Rousseau this society is free as decisions made by the General will are unpredictable and each man consulting his own self interest is consulting the self interest of every other man. He believes that the social contract gives people the chance to choose their own system of values by which all of the society will live by. He also insists that there is a need for some sort of legislator to govern how people make their choices. For Rousseau forcing everyone to go along with the will of the majority is forcing the minority to be free, because the will of the majority will ultimately be the right decision.
But, besides the public person, we have to consider the privates persons composing it,
Whose life and liberty are naturally dependant of it. We are bound then to distinguish
clearly between the respective rights of the citizens and the Sovereign, and between the
duties the former have to fulfil as subjects, and the natural rights they should
enjoy as men. (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1997)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau can teach us a great deal about the nature and form of political communities. Rousseau had two conflicting opinions of society on one hand he believed that society is evil and at all times is contrary to the will of the individual and on the other hand he believed that the creation and maintaining of a perfect society was imperative to the evolution of man kind. Rousseau is an advocate for the ‘state of nature’ and he seems to praise it but he also acknowledges that it was necessary for man to evolve from its pre political state to civil society because without the experience of social life ‘he has no occasion to discipline his natural appetites in the interest of common action’ (Watkins, Frederick www.constitution.org) We learn from Rousseau that the civil society is necessary because reason and morality are products of civil society and without reason and morality man is nothing but a beast as in the state of nature so therefore the creation of civil society is necessary in the evolution of man. ‘The specific rights and duties of the individual are determined not by the terms of the social contract itself, but by the continuing moral consensus of the individuals who are party to it’ (Watkins, Frederick www.constitution.org)
Rousseau concept of the General will contributed to constitutional government, for Rousseau respect for the morality and reason of the individual is the foundation of legitimate political systems, and if the state fails to act in a moral fashion or fails to respect the morality and reason of individuals it fails to exist.
Rousseau teaches us that citizens of civil society want to share common political existence so they are willing to accept the view of the majority so even thought Rousseau advocates coercion to protect civil society it is usually not necessary because citizens will usually accept the general will of society and constitutional government assumes this.
Rousseau teaches us that in some form a legislator is important in civil society because ordinary men by their own efforts were incapable of appreciating the collective general will and a legislator is necessary to implement the general will of the majority on the minority and therefore prevent any kind of antisocial behaviour.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a brilliant political thinker who has had great emphasis on modern day politics. He was above all a man of the people and he attempted to find for mankind a solution to the mess he claimed civil society was in. He outlined the problem that men in civil society had in his confessions and the discourse on the origins of inequality and in his work the social contract he attempted to find a solution to the problems. His solution was the general will, according to Rousseau the general will allows men to be free even if they have to be coerced into accepting the general will. Rousseau gives us a great insight into the state and nature of political communities, we learn that men will naturally act in there own self interest but when this self interest is the general will each man acting in his own self interest is also acting in the interest of all society. He teaches us that morality and reason are the basis for all legitimate government. If a Government fails to respect the morality and reason of the individuals it represents it fails to be legitimate and therefore it fails to exist.
The constitution of man is the work of nature; that of the state the work of art.
It is not in men’s power to prolong their own lives; but it is for them to prolong
as much as possible the life of the state by giving it the best possible constitution.
(Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1997)
Bibliography
McCllelland, J.S, (1996). A History of Western Political Thought. London: Routledge
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1997), The social contract and other later political writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
