Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A Romantic in the Age of Reason

-oOo-

BIOGRAPHY

Father of the Romantic Movement.

Born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28, 1712, died on July 2, 1778 at

age 66.
Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist.
Son of a Calvinist watchmaker, while her mother died during childbirth.
His career unfolded during the French Enlightenment, that Age of
Reason which in 18th century dominated by Voltaire (1694-1778),
Montesquieu (1689-1755), Diderot (1713-1784), Condorcet (17431794), Holbach and others who were known as philosophes. These men
challenged the traditional modes of thought concerning religion,
government, and morality. They, believing that human reason provides
the most reliable guide to mans destiny, they held that Reason is to
the philosophe what grace is to the Christian. This was the theme of

the remarkable Encyclopedie (1751-1780)1.

At age 10, he was under the care of his aunt after his father escape
following a lawsuit ensued over a bar fight with a retired military
officer. He was raised by her and was sent to boarding school, where,
in his confessions2 he lamented, We are to learn all the insignificant

trash that has obtained the name of education.

At age 12, his formal education came to an end.

1 Narration on the life of J.J. Rousseau in Socrates to Satre compiled by Samuel

Enoch Stumpf.
2 An autobiographical book by J.J. Rousseau covering 53 years of Rousseaus life
starting from age 5.

Lyons, Venice, Paris

In Lyons, France, Rousseau came under the care of a noblewoman,

Mme. de Warrens, who sought to further his formal education, and
while this failed he was able to land a job as a music teacher to the

children of M. de Mably.3
In Venice, he became the secretary to the Comte de Montaigue, the
French ambassador to Venice, Italy for 11 months from 1743 to 1744,
although he was forced to flee to Paris to avoid prosecution by the

Venetian Senate.
On his stay back to Paris, he met Thrse Levasseur, a semi-literate
waitress whom he married and bore him five children, all of whom were

left at the Paris orphanage soon after birth.4

Rousseaus literary career began with his prize-winning essay entitled
Discourses on the Arts and Sciences (1750) that would be central to all
his later works, in which he endorsed neither traditional views nor
fashionable ideas of progress developed by Enlightenment thinkers.
Rousseau insisted that human beings are essentially good, and that

it is only society that corrupts them. 5

His work was followed by another discourse, now on A Discourse on the
Origins of Inequality (1755). Here he makes use of a common term
used by Enlightenment thinkers, the state of nature, but portrays

3 A grand provost of Lyons local authority.

4 A detail of his love affair can be found in Durants A. & W.s Reasseau and
Revolution: The story of Civilization.
5 Found on the work of Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson in their Fifty Major Political
Thinkers.

human beings not as essentially rational and social but free individuals
who engage with each other occasionally and who are capable of selflove and sympathy. However, under the pressure of population, this

idyllic natural freedom is destroyed.6

Yet Rousseau nonetheless makes clear that he believes in the
possibility of human perfectibility, of human improvement. This leaves
him the question whether, first of all, it is possible to live an individual
human life that is not corrupted by society, and second, whether it is
possible to create a non-corrupt society.

SOCIO-POLITICAL &
ECONOMIC CONDITION

The height of Rousseaus literary ascendancy was marked by profound

criticism and controversial claims. During this time, France was the
engaged in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48); but as the
conflict was fought on foreign soul, Paris went on with its gilded gaiety,
intellectual agitation, theaters mounting Racine, salons sparkling with
heresy and wits, bishops reading Voltaire, beggars competing with
prostitutes hawkers crying their wares, and artisans sweating for

bread.7
Paris was dominated by Enlightenment thinkers who were once a part
of Rousseau intellectual stimulus. They were the ones who valued a
fashionable cult of reason and establish orthodoxy. In light of it all, the
development of reason was in pinnacle that ultimately separates

6 Ibid.

7 Can be found on Durants A. & W.s Rousseau and Revolution: The story of Civilization.

Rousseau from the pact whereby he espoused emotion and will above

reason.8
The political condition in which Rousseau sets forth to establish his
treatise was under the regimes of kings. During that time, kings rule

with might and force at the peak of reason and sophistication.

The economic condition was predominantly feudalistic. Relationship
like master and slave/ landlord and serf was the mode of production
under this society.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

8 On Ian Adams and R.W. Dyson in their Fifty Major Political Thinkers.

Illustration 1: This is an illustration of J.J. Rousseaus work Social Contract.

This follows mainly from his principle that human being in the state of nature
is free, independent, and civic. Under the pressure of population, this idyllic
natural freedom or state of nature is destroyed. According to Rousseau, in
order to return to the freedom of the state of nature humanity must
surrender their freedom in exchange for the freedom of the citizen thus
formed a civil society.

The Social Contract (1762)9

Book 1: Introduction

Rousseau started this book with the most celebrated phrase that Man
is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. Continually he said, How
did this change come about? I do not know. What can make it

legitimate? I think I can answer that question.

The purpose of this book therefore is not to describe the change from
mans natural state to his subsequent membership in a political society
but rather to provide an answer to the question why it is that a person
ought to obey the laws of government.

Chapter 3&4 : The Right of the Strongest and Concerning Slavery

Rousseau insisted that No man, as we have seen, has any natural

authority over his fellow man, and might, as we have seen also, makes
no right. This follows from his principle that The strongest, unless he
transforms force into right and obedience into duty, is never strong
enough to have his way all the time.10

Book 2: On Sovereignty

Rousseau invoked that Only the general will can direct the energies of
the state in a manner appropriate to the end for which it was founded,

e.i., the common good.

Sovereignty for Rousseau is that pure and simple, the exercise of the
general will, and can in no circumstances therefore be alienated or
divided. And added accordingly that the sovereignty is purely and

9 The Social Contract by Rousseau with introduction by Willmoore Kendall.

10 Jean Jacques Rousseau: The social contract (1954).. intro by Wilmoore Kendall.
Chicago, Illinois: henry Regnery Company. 6-9.

simply a collective being, and can be represented therefore only be

itself.
BOOK 3: On Government

Rousseau defined government as A body that has been created to

maintain communication between subjects and sovereign, and that,
occupies an intermediate position between them.

He also give

characteristic to it as in-charge of, first, the execution of the law, and

second, the preservation of both civil and political liberty.

To him government is merely the sovereigns agent.

Book 4: On General Will

According to Rousseau, Men assembled together have a single will,

looking to their common preservation and general well-being, just to

the extent that they think of themselves as a single body.

The general will draw its energies from sources that are potent and
pure; its principles are clear and unmistakable. It contains no interest

that gets in anothers way, or conflict.

In a rather interpretative distinction, The basic idea of general will,
according to Adams and Dyson is, each one of us wills or desires a
variety of things, but among the things that each of us desires is the
good of the community in which we live. It is then in order that if a
law is passed that is in accord with the General Will, then in obeying
this law we are in a sense obeying ourselves.11

CRITICISM

Rousseau apparently held some criticism on various respects. This

ranges from his personal life being claimed in his work Confessions

11 On Fifthy Major Political Thinkers by Adams and Dyson.

while others have especially directed towards the immediate course of

his political ideas, mainly the Social Contract.

Many of the writers and political leaders regard Rousseaus principle of
government as Totalitarianism. His writings fueled many dictators
around the world claiming that they themselves embodied the General
Will and that those who oppose shall be treated as public enemy.

INFLUENCES ON PHILIPPINE SETTING

Rousseaus conception of the sovereign transcends its way into the

Philippine political setting whereby influencing our governmental

activities.
The conception of the General Will also makes its way into our political
scenery to which we make our laws on the foundations of common
good.

Bibliography
1. Stumpf, S. E., (1993). Socrates to Satre: A history of philosophy. U.S.A.:
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
2. Adams, I., and Dyson, R.W., (2003). Fifty major political thinkers. New
York, N.Y: Routledge.
3. Durant, A., and Durant, W., (n.d.). Rousseau and Revolution: The story
of civilization. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ph/books?
id=Cq2ffQUf1GIC&printsec= frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.

4. Jean Jacques Rousseau: The social contract (1954). Intro by Wilmoore Kendall.
Chicago, Illinois: henry Regnery Company.