-
A Critical Appraisal Of Hobbes’ Idea Of Social Contract
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 3 of 4
-
-
-
1.5 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT ACCORDING TO JEAN JACQUES
ROUSSEAU:
Rousseau
(1712-1778) developed increasingly deeper and more sophisticated ideas
about the origin and nature of the condition of man in the society and
what ought to be done to ameliorate this condition. Rousseau regrettably
announced that increasing scientific knowledge and refinement of arts
and letters, instead of leading to a peaceful and harmonious society,
was in fact, the bane of the civilized society. He notes that such
sophistication is the offshoot of luxury and idleness and has developed
to feed people’s vanity and desire for ostentatious and aggressive
self-display. N. J. Dent, in his commentary on Rousseau remarks that:
Rousseau
allows for the fact that there are a few people of genius who genuinely
enrich humanity by their ideas. But the majority are not improved but
harmed, by exposure to the higher learning.13
In his work, “Discourse
on the Origin and Foundation of Inequalityâ€, Rousseau gives an account
of the fall of humankind. For him, natural man, left alone in his
natural environment is self-sufficient. In this state, man is peaceable.
Later on, increase in population forces people to live together.
Jealousy and envy became the order of the day as “men come to demand
esteem and deference.â€14 This leads men to compete for precedence, which
makes life to be tainted by aggression and spite.
Lack of
individual self-sufficiency, Rousseau argues, requires the individual to
associate together in the society. He however does not support a
condition of enslavement as the price of survival for those who embark
on this contract. Freedom is seen as an essential human need and the
mark of humanity. Rousseau holds that freedom and association can only
be combined if all the persons of the association make up the sovereign
body for that association. In other words, in this contract, there ought
to be a mutual consent, freedom and choice made by the individuals as
they submit their general will to be ruled by an established authority.
Rousseau, however, made it clear that the terms of the contract holds
that governmental function must be thoroughly subordinate to the
sovereign judgement of the people. Generally, Rousseau’s idea of social
contract depicts the union of free and equal men who devise laws under
which they shall now proceed to live their lives as citizens of a state.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 3 of 4
-
