Rousseau Jean-Jacques (1712–78), Swiss-born French philosopher, essayist, novelist, and musician, best known for his theories on social freedom and societal rights, education, and religion. Born in Geneva, he was largely self-educated and moved to France as a teenager. Throughout much of his life he moved between Paris and the provinces with several trips abroad (including a Scottish stay with Hume) and a return visit to Geneva, where he reconverted to Protestantism from his earlier conversion to Catholicism. For a time he was a friend of Diderot and other philosophes and was asked to contribute articles on music for the Encyclopedia.
Rousseau’s work can be seen from at least three perspectives. As social contract theorist, he attempts to construct a hypothetical state of nature to explain the current human situation. This evolves a form of philosophical anthropology that gives us both a theory of human nature and a series of pragmatic claims concerning social organization. As a social commentator, he speaks of both practical and ideal forms of education and social organization. As a moralist, he continually attempts to unite the individual and the citizen through some form of universal political action or consent.
In Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality Among Mankind (1755), Rousseau presents us with an almost idyllic view of humanity. In nature humans are first seen as little more than animals except for their special species sympathy. Later, through an explanation of the development of reason and language, he is able to suggest how humans, while retaining this sympathy, can, by distancing themselves from nature, understand their individual selves. This leads to natural community and the closest thing to what Rousseau considers humanity’s perfect moment. Private property quickly follows on the division of labor, and humans find themselves alienated from each other by the class divisions engendered by private property. Thus man, who was born in freedom, now finds himself in chains. The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right (1762) has a more ambitious goal. With an account of the practical role of the legislator and the introduction of the concept of the general will, Rousseau attempts to give us a foundation for good government by presenting a solution to the conflicts between the particular and the universal, the individual and the citizen, and the actual and the moral. Individuals, freely agreeing to a social pact and giving up their rights to the community, are assured of the liberties and equality of political citizenship found in the contract. It is only through being a citizen that the individual can fully realize his freedom and exercise his moral rights and duties. While the individual is naturally good, he must always guard against being dominated or dominating. Rousseau finds a solution to the problems of individual freedoms and interests in a superior form of moral/political action that he calls the general will. The individual as citizen substitutes ‘I must’ for ‘I will,’ which is also an ‘I shall’ when it expresses assent to the general will. The general will is a universal force or statement and thus is more noble than any particular will. In willing his own interest, the citizen is at the same time willing what is communally good. The particular and the universal are united. The individual human participant realizes himself in realizing the good of all. As a practical political commentator Rousseau knew that the universal and the particular do not always coincide. For this he introduced the idea of the legislator, which allows the individual citizen to realize his fulfillment as social being and to exercise his individual rights through universal consent. In moments of difference between the majority will and the general will the legislator will instill the correct moral/political understanding. This will be represented in the laws. While sovereignty rests with the citizens, Rousseau does not require that political action be direct. Although all government should be democratic, various forms of government from representative democracy (preferable in small societies) to strong monarchies (preferable in large nation-states) may be acceptable. To shore up the unity and stability of individual societies, Rousseau suggests a sort of civic religion to which all citizens subscribe and in which all members participate. His earlier writings on education and his later practical treatises on the governments of Poland and Corsica reflect related concerns with natural and moral development and with historical and geographical considerations.
See also SOCIAL CONTRAC. J.Bi.