rousseau

     Who would have thought that a difficult man who came from a poor family could end up in the glamorous life of an Enlightenment Thinker. Jean- Jacques Rousseau not only overcame his problems from his past but because of his ideals and concepts became one of the most controversial philosophe of the Enlightenment thinkers.
      With his mother dead shortly after his birth and his father abandoning him at the age of 10, Rousseau was left to live with his aunt and uncle. At the age of 16, he left his home in Geneva and wandered around until he got to Paris in 1742. In order to make some money, Rousseau did odd-jobs that the typical Enlightenment thinker would have never done from being a footman to being an ambassador.
    The ideas that made Rousseau so famous was that he incorporated passion and emotion along with philosophical thinking, which had never been done by previous philosophers. He believed that people were basically good but they were corrupted by the evils of society. He viewed society as "artificial" and "corrupt" and that the furthering of society results in the increase of the unhappiness in man. This veiw of man was later adopted by many of reformers and revolutionaries.
     In 1762, Jean-Jacques wrote the essay "Discourse on the Arts and Science" which said that the advancements in art and science were not beneficial to man but only attributed to the increasingly growing power of the government. He believed that the material growth of the time undermined the the possibility of sincere friendship, replacing it with jealousy, fear and suspiscion.
    Also in 1762, Rousseau wrote one of his most famous pieces " The Social Contract". In this piece he states " Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." The metaphor of the chains stands for society which controls how people behave. From this work, Rousseau says that good men only exist because of society's presence and that without law and justice that life would be "brutish". The government, he believes, is one of those figures which creates good in men. And although the thought that man is giving up his independance crosses your mind, Rousseau believes that individuals choose to give up their self-interest in favor for the common good.
     Jean-Jacques Rousseau had strong political beliefs that made him one of the first forebearers of Communism. He was strongly against the institution of private property and he questioned whether the assumption of the majority was always correct. He firmly believed that the government's job was to secure freedom, justice and authority anywhere within the state, regardless of the will of the majority. Still he favored the community over the indiviual.
     A good reason why Rousseau is so conroversial is because of his politcal views. He has been recognized for his ideas of democracy, that the political authoity is dependant upon the people. But his beliefs in non-private properties appeals to the communist dictators also. Other politcal philosophical views that he holds are that morality and politics shouldn't be seperated because when a government doesn't have morals than it stops having genuine authority over the people, and that the government is there to perserve the people's freedom.
     Through these strong political and social ideas, Jean-Jacques Rousseau has become one of the most controversial and inspirational Enlightenment thinkers. His beliefs were ones that were the fuel for revolts in centuries ahead.