Saturday, January 4, 2020

Essay on Modern Western Political Thought - 1157 Words

â€Å"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.† with this now famous quotation Jean- Jacque Rousseau begins his work The Social Contract. The purpose of The Social Contract was to establish how people could enter into civil societies without sacrificing their individual freedom. Rousseau envisions a social contract that would bind people together. To analyze The Social Contract we must examine how Rousseau addresses the four problems of political philosophy order, freedom, justice, and history. First the problem of order will be addressed. To determine how Rousseau handles the problem of order it must be decided whether the state Rousseau describes is natural or artificial. Rousseau believes that man is born into a state of nature.†¦show more content†¦Thus, the origin of the state comes from the desire of man to free him from the physical nature of the state of nature to preserve himself and his property. The final aspect of the problem of order is how the state will itself will be ordered. Rousseau doesn’t provide specifics on how the state should be ordered; instead he provides some generalities on how the foundation of the state should be formed. Man enters into a social contract with other men to form a civil society. These men form the sovereign of the state. The sovereign is its own individual entity but is comprised of each citizen of the state. The sovereign is the ultimate authority of the state. The sovereign then passes fundamental laws, these laws lay the foundation for the form of the state. These foundation laws are based on the general will of the state. The general will of the state, which is a reflection of all the individual wills in the state, is the will of the whole of the state, the general will should be for the good of the whole. The fundamental laws the sovereign passes, based on the general will determine the form of government that the state will implement. Rousseau does not prescribe a specific form of government which each state must use. Instead he allows each state to form their own government whether that is a democracy, aristocracy, monarchy, or a mixed form. HeShow MoreRelatedThe Evolution of Western Thought Essay1502 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout modern history no other period of human evolution has had a greater effect on the way people think than the enlightenment. The philosophers and great thinkers of the enlightenment changed the logic of the human mind for the better and propelled a period of mass advancement in all aspects of society. Western thought progressed over time to help build a more intellectual society. 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