Rousseau's Philosophy: Human Nature, Society, and the General Will

Rousseau's Core Ideas: Nature, Morality, and Policy

The fundamental concept of anthropological theory, morality, and policy, as outlined in Rousseau's Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men, centers on the inherent goodness of human nature and the corrupting influence of society. Evil, according to Rousseau, originates from social structures.

To develop this theory, Rousseau needed a working hypothesis: a theoretical assumption about human life before the establishment of social status, the state of nature. In contrast to Hobbes, Rousseau envisioned humans in this state as good, free, and happy, with inherent equality. The natural man possesses two dominant, basic feelings: self-love and natural pity. Furthermore, the natural man is characterized by natural freedom of choice and the capacity for self-perfection.

This concept of the natural man is a theoretical construct, a hypothesis, a practical or axiological concept, or an ideal. The natural man serves as a fictitious model against which the rightness or wrongness of our behavior and social institutions can be judged.

Society's Corrupting Influence

Rousseau posits that society, rather than the natural state, corrupts humanity. The emergence of private property became the source of rising inequality, leading to a state of war of all against all. To avoid this, governments and laws were instituted, giving rise to political society or the State, which, according to Rousseau, only served to consolidate the injustice and inequality that had arisen.

Critique of Enlightenment and Proposal for Reform

In opposition to Enlightenment philosophers who claimed that intellectual progress contributed to economic and social human happiness, Rousseau argued that culture and civilization are the source of injustice, inequality, and unhappiness. To address this, Rousseau proposes reforming society and creating a form of political organization that respects human freedom and natural equality. This reform is reflected in his theory of the social contract.

The Social Contract and the General Will

The social contract is an agreement whereby each contracting party eternally submits to the general will, a will that arises from the union of all individuals by establishing laws that must be applied equally to everyone and seek the common good. Thus, the general will is the power of pursuing the common good. The general will is not the result of the sum of all individualistic wills that have signed the pact; rather, it is the result of each individual member feeling a part of a whole and therefore not acting against themselves.

In this sense, it is a genuine individual transformation from being an individual to being a social being, where each individual's pursuit of the common good makes them an active member of the social body to which they belong. The general will is the foundation of all political power. Consequently, one must only obey the laws, which are sacred because they are an expression of the general will, which contains one universal subject: the sovereign people.

Civil Liberty and Popular Sovereignty

Thus arises civil liberty, limited by the general will. Popular sovereignty, the seat of legislative power, also needs a government that represents the general will and implements those laws, the executive power. The government alone is entrusted with a merely administrative role in service to the sovereign. The specific ways of organizing power might be: democracy, where the people govern themselves; aristocracy, where the people's sovereignty is vested in a few, the best representatives of the people (executive), where elective will be an ideal form of government; or monarchy, where popular sovereignty cedes power to a single executive citizen.

Rousseau's Theory of Education

According to Rousseau's theory of education, traditional education is destructive. Rousseau proposes in his Emile a new education leading to the natural development of the child, avoiding the corruption that entry into society entails. This education, guided by a tutor, allows the child to freely develop their abilities at the rhythm dictated by their nature. Furthermore, education should foster the development of intuition and feeling, because Rousseau believes that morality is based on natural feelings, like self-love and love for others.

Religion and Tolerance

Religion must also be addressed. Thus, Rousseau rejects positive religions, materialism, and atheism, and proposes tolerance.