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Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Lecture 1

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Lecture 1. PHIL 1003 2009-10. Penal servitude Forced labour as punishment Locke & Rousseau (?) Based on a finding of guilt Rule of law followed? Questionable examples: gulag (USSR), laogai (China), concentration camps (Nazi Germany). Chattel Slavery

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Lecture 1

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  1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau:Lecture 1 PHIL 1003 2009-10

  2. Penal servitude Forced labour as punishment Locke & Rousseau (?) Based on a finding of guilt Rule of law followed? Questionable examples: gulag (USSR), laogai (China), concentration camps (Nazi Germany). Chattel Slavery Domestic servants Field hands Skilled labour Helotage Communities in bondage to another group E.g. the helots to the Spartans Helots were hunted for sport once a year. Final remarks on slavery

  3. 1712: born in city of Geneva Son of a watchmaker Mother dies at his birth; raised by father No formal education Apprenticed to an engraver, but escaped; Wandering life until his 30’s 1750-62: writes major works 1762: goes into exile to escape prosecution for ideas on religion and politics 1767: returns to France incognito 1778: dies near Paris Who was Jean-Jacques Rousseau? (1712-1778)

  4. Rousseau’s major works

  5. 1750: Landmark Year • Vision on the road to Vincennes; • question for prize essay: “whether the restoration of the Sciences and Arts has contributed to the purification of morals.” • Rousseau formulates his vision: • “I could no longer see any greatness or beauty except in being free and virtuous, superior to fortune and men’s opinion, and independent of all external circumstances” (Confs., Bk 8).

  6. Discourse on the Origins Of Inequality among Men (1754)

  7. Dedication to Geneva • “Citizen of Geneva” (DSA and DOI title pages) • Geneva = republic (vs absolutist France) • Virtuous vs Parisian decadence • Advocates elected magistracy of merit (vs purchased offices in France): • similarities to Chinese concept; • uses elections of the best and most virtuous instead of exams (DOI, Epistle, par. 11); • Cf. Athenian rotation system.

  8. Paris (modern Athens) Corrupt Unnatural Weak Citizens dominated by opinions of others Complex and large: officials, taxes, rules Concern w/ status Lack of genuine relations among people. Geneva (modern Sparta) Virtuous: time for unfortunate, Fatherland and friends (DSA, II.37) No theatre Defense of homeland Simplicity Small Non-aggressive Rousseau’s ideal. Paris versus Geneva

  9. Discourse = thought experiment • A meditation, not a fact-finding mission; • Conducted during long, solitary walks in the woods. • “…hypothetical and conditional reasonings”; • “elucidate the Nature of things [rather] than show their genuine origin” (DOI, p.132, [6]). • “Let us begin by setting aside all the facts….”

  10. DOI Frontispiece: what does it mean?

  11. “The Philosophers who have examined the foundations of society have all felt the necessity of going back as far as the state of Nature, But none of them has reached it” (132). None of them has stripped man naked.

  12. ‘All that is challenging in The Social Contract had previously appeared in the Discourse on Inequality… (Confs., Bk 9).

  13. Hobbes and Locke on S of N • Hobbes: • man is by nature fearful, contentious; • state of nature = war of all against all. • Locke: • man is by nature capable of sociability before he enters into society, • e.g. contract b/w a Swiss and an Indian in the woods of America; • protection of property is reason to form governments.

  14. Rousseau vs Hobbes and Locke • Both are wrong: • Man is naturally peaceable and isolated; • Man is not naturally sociable; • he must become so, through a long and complicated development; • Inequality, exploitation and arbitrary rule = outcome.

  15. Where does inequality come from? Is it natural? Unnatural?

  16. What is inequality? • Physical, • by nature; very slight. • Political: • Very great; • caused by amour-propre [vanity], human institutions, e.g. property: “this is mine”; • social problems resulting from inequality: • Few rule many; i.e. rich rule poor • Exploitation of most of humanity by the few.

  17. “Once Peoples are accustomed to Masters, they can no longer do without them” (CUP ed. 1997, 115, [6]).

  18. “To be and to appear became two entirely different things, and from this distinction arose ostentatious display, deceitful cunning, and all the vices that follow in their wake” (DOI, pt. II, par. 27).

  19. Savage vs social man • “…the Savage lives within himself; social man, always outside himself, is capable of living only in the opinion of others and… derives the sentiment of his own existence solely from their judgment…” (DOI, II.57).

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