...Rousseau begins the “Discourse on Inequality” with a metaphor in which he uses a statue to describe the human race. The statue can be molded and weathered, resulting in change over time. His argument on inequality is based in human nature, which, like the statue, changes. He tries to examine the root of human characteristics and develops the idea of perfectibility. Perfectibility is the mental and physical power that differentiates humans from their animal counterparts, and Rousseau uses this to support his account of the breakdown of inequalities in humans. Perfectibility is derived socially. Rousseau believes there’s a limit to perfectibility, and once reached, perfectibility can cause some negative qualities. To begin to define Perfectibility,...
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...In Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, he argues that natural inequalities directly lead to social inequalities. Rousseau attempts to define natural inequalities by first examining the origins of man. Immediately, Rousseau discounts Hobbes’ version of a state of nature, in which man is a violent being whose passions will ultimately cause him to live a life of desire and fear. While both philosophers agree that man, in a state of nature, is not naturally sociable, Rousseau argues that man is naturally peaceful, as a result of his ignorance. In the state of nature that Rousseau depicts, man and animal are both mechanical, and can only be differentiated by the unique way in which each develops. Even though man and animal are mechanical beings, Rousseau makes two important distinctions that separate them. He asserts that only man has the unique ability to act freely. This grants him the ability to choose, thus altering his behavior. Additionally, humans have, what he terms, “perfectibility, ” or the ability to be molded by one’s environment. Rousseau argues that the quality of perfectibility accounts for human development because it produces both enlightenment and virtue. It is with this quality, also, that propels humankind out of a state of nature into, what he terms a...
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...Society and Democracy In today’s world, it is impossible not to know society. This is a concept that is introduced to human as soon as someone is born. Interacting in society and in a social environment are things people are teaching to help them live in a society. The origin of this society one is so familiar with is discussed in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Not only does he discuss the inequality of society but also how this society forms democratic government. According to Rousseau men joining leads to laws being made, causing the division of people because of their opinions, which brings about the need for representatives, resulting in a democracy. Society causes democracy. Society creates the need for laws. When a single man claimed land as his own, he has founded the first society (44 Rousseau). When one claims...
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...Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes were 17th and 18th century philosophers with contrasting theories about human nature. Rousseau published first part of his Discourse on Inequality arguing that men in a state of nature are free and equal. In their theories, both Hobbes and Rousseau’s appeal to the state of nature are quite different. This paper will discuss how Rousseau’s understanding of fear of death of human nature differs from Hobbes’s understanding. Hobbes believes that man is always in the fear of being killed in a painful way because everyone is an enemy of each other. Hobbes says life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Hobbes, 76). The fear of a short life that ends badly should be the glue that holds society together....
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...Terrance Fulton Professor Fleshman Introduction to Philosophy – Autumn Quarter 24 October 2015 Midterm Exam Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, Second Essay, Aphorism 12, P. 77 Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals sought to locate the origin of human morals and thoughts. However, his text is most effective at criticizing the morals and thoughts of humans. Most important is his criticism towards the human thought of origin and utility. Nietzsche’s work seeks to inform that the utility of an object is a consequence, not a cause, of any origin. What came first, the chicken or the egg? This is a question that is debated by everyone from Harvard scholars to biology experts to children in the school yard. The answer is unclear. Nietzsche asks a question that is quite similar: which came first, the eye or sight? The answer may seem obvious, the eye had to be made before sight could have happened. Nietzsche would agree. However, he would not agree that the eye was made for seeing. Instead he would say that the eye existed and then sight evolved from the already present organ. This statement is the basis of Nietzsche’s argument in the Genealogy: origin is not equal to essence. It Nietzsche’s belief that the origin of something is not related to its purpose/utility or vice-versa. This is the point that he is making in the provided passage. The text states, “…the utility of [anything]…means nothing regarding its origin” (p.77). This statement is put into effect through various ways in...
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...reasoning and further from faith. The thought of Rousseau and Saint Augustine is a clear representation of the two poles of reason and faith in political thought. Rousseau, outlining the basis of his social contract on the natural goodness of human beings and putting sovereignty in the hand s of people, differs widely from Augustine who addresses the state as an “essential evil” put to discipline men who are sinners by nature. The political arguments of these two philosophers, who lived in two different ages, represent a different kind of Enlightenment for the both ages that they lived in. This essay will discuss Rousseau’s and Augustine’s regards to state, justice and property and will examine the effects of their thoughts on modern politics. Augustine and Rousseau in Comparison Wrapping his political and social beliefs with virtuous, deist and theological Christian discourse, Augustine, the Christian bishop, presents a leap in the Western thought at a time close to the beginning of the middle ages. His political views in his writings are interpreted differently by various scholars as he rarely expresses direct positions in regards to the political organization of states and the legalization of authorities. A famous quote from his book “City of God”, which highlights key political ideas in terms of justice, state and property, says: “Justice removed, then what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers? What are bands of robbers themselves but little kingdoms?” The quote shows the...
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...Rousseau’s book caught my attention according to his various elements that have highlighted the discourse of humanity. One of the major facts that he highlighted in the text is the fact that man has continued to be highly unequal in all ways of life. He first begins by explaining that the beginning of humanity was more so uniform. This diversity has therefore been observed in various ways in which men have been diversified. For example, he says that there are two key types of diversity including moral and physical diversities. He explains that physical diversity is that which is brought about naturally through the coexistence of humanity. These elements of natural diversity include age, height, and capacity of the brain as well as other body characteristics (Rousseau & J.-J, 2009, p. 9). On the other hand, the elements of moral diversity involve differences that are visible in the human nature in many forms. Furthermore, the moral forms of inequalities give off from the consent and authority of mankind. For example, he says that political classes and social demarcations that define the differences between two of more classes of diversity...
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...Hobbes and Rousseau For the political theorists Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau there came a point in history where people, in order to have security in their persons and maintain a standard quality of life, entered into a social contract with one another and established the first sovereign states. For both theorists the period before the institution of a social contract, what they call the "state of nature", is important in understanding what form this first government took and what rights or liberties it was meant to protect. The state of nature is a time in which primitive humans roamed the earth without regard for what we now consider laws or social customs. While not a scientific study of social or biological evolution by any means, in fact both Hobbes and Rousseau admit the State of Nature may very well have never existed, it is an important concept of abstract political theory that enables us to debate the role human nature plays in the formation of governments and how these governments can better serve the people who institute them. Hobbes describes our natural state, in his treatise Leviathan, as one of equality. By this he does not mean moral or social equality, he is referring only to physical equality. He says, "Nature hath made men so equal, in the faculties of body, and mind."(Hobbes 68) He adds that on occasion one may be stronger or smarter than another, however, "when all is reckoned together, the difference between man, and man, is not as considerable...
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...labor market to work and not the owners themselves. The conception of becoming rich and famous is paramount in America. The overwhelming influence of this notion forces American inhabitants to climb on top of each other until they reach the peak of the caste. Individuals in capitalistic societies are more concerned with advancing their personal socioeconomic status rather than the general welfare of the population. Capitalism depicts the impression that individuals should value personal profit instead of morality. This encouragement has the tendency to trigger the epidemics of economic disparities and social destruction. The selfishness of the affluent class allows them to maintain economic stability and preserve their superiority. Inequality is inevitable in capitalistic societies and expanding opportunities for economic equality only escalates the inadequate distribution of wealth. The financial advantages rich individuals possess make them more capable of achieving the opportunities that capitalism has to offer. The benefit of exploitation awarded to the upper class diminishes the chance for others to economically progress. Ultimately the inadequate distribution of wealth erodes the social structure and fuels the depression of the less fortunate population. The US government also does an insufficient job on providing direct services to its citizens. This is the only capitalist country in the world that the government does not provide universal health care or insurance for...
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...malicious and rapacious, but intrinsically good. The creation of industry, private property, and large cities have corrupted the intrinsic virtues of man. Achieving the correct understanding of the human condition, and how it has been polluted, will allow leaders of society to have the knowledge and ability to fix the obstacle in the way of the betterment of civilization. His nuanced philosophy on the natural virtuousness of man had huge effects on the way people perceived government’s role in people’s lives. No longer was it just assumed for the government to keep the natural vainglory of man in check. People began to see that the government had a role in making the virtue of man flourish in its society as well. Philosophers before the Rousseau’s critic, often assumed that the negative aspects of the human condition had always existed. Until Rousseau, no one had focused on observing how humans had negatively evolved along with their new environments. Many enlightenment era philosophers believed that the only possible way for progress was through the formation of a strong national government with strict laws, public education and industrialization, allowing man to evolve past this natural evil. These enlightened thinkers failed to see that the negative aspects they wished to dispose of were a product of the environment in which man created for himself. The solution they believed to be the answer would only inflate the issue, causing a greater divide. Civilized man was now being...
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...Changing History or Preserving the Past? Both Rousseau and Marx have contrasting views on private property. Throughout this essay I will go in-depth at both theorists’ critique of private property individually, and as a whole. Having been written 150 years ago, both Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality and Marx’s Communist Manneifsto ideas of private property still remain relevant till this day. Marx has a very aggressive view of property. Marx believes that private property divides society into two groups the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie are the people who have all the land. Where the Proletariat are known to have no property (means of production), and who are the people who apply labor to the land. According to Marx the division between these two groups in society has been going on since the beginning of history, and is extremely important to realize that history has dictated how people are grouped into these societies. “In bourgeois society…. the past dominates the present; in...
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...Rousseau views property as the root of corruption, the start of the decline in human happiness, virtue, and sincerity. In the Discourse of Inequality he asserts, “the first person who, having fenced off a plot of ground, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him was the true founder of civil society” (Rousseau). Property in a sense is the catalyst for civilisation and government, was the root cause of the degeneration of the human condition, the final fence enclosing true human freedom. In evident contrast, Locke praises property as a positive contribution to humankind and the gains that come along with it. “Yet every man has a ‘property’ in his own ‘person’” (Locke 116), ownership of property is among everyone’s natural God-given right, which can not create corruption as Rousseau claims because of greed developing from it, Locke counteracts this because as long as there is an abundance of goods that can be used without their spoiling, then people have a natural right to those goods, no one is being left with nothing, nothing is being acquired by force and if it is there are laws to punish it. Rousseau’s approach and negative interpretation to property is limiting man’s potential to just scavenging for his needs and nothing more, but Locke’s approach expands and motivates man’s capacity to do more. Property, gained through labour...
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...nature Eyong Tabot SOSC 1012 Dimitris Kagia Thursday, March 10th 2016 1 Humanity, what does it mean to be human? Are we simply static beings defined by our ability to walk upright, and perform a range of mechanical tasks? Or does our ability to process thought, pass judgment, and adapt to a changing environment completely define us? For us to determine what it means to be human, we must observe humans actions within their environment. Many philosophers gave answers to the question what does it mean to be human? Now we can form an opinion by exploring these answers. Within this essay, we will be comparing and contrasting the views of two philosophers, Socrates in “The Republic” and Jean-Jacq Rousseau in part one of the “Discourse on the Origin of inequality”. Socrates believed Human nature is unchanging while Rousseau believed humans changed. As we explore both accounts can we find an answer to what it means to be human? In Socrates’s perspective, human nature was like the three classes found in the Polis (The Greek word for community). He believed the three classes which made up the polis were: the rulers, the guardians, and the workers. The rulers created laws, the guardians enforced these laws and the workers followed those laws. The stability of the polis revolved around the boundaries set by those three classes which cannot be crossed. Thus, a worker could not become a guardian, a guardian could not be a ruler and a ruler could not be a worker. Socrates compared the value...
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...Rousseau’s state of nature, is one where man is free, and thus it is only until man becomes integrated into society, do we see ugly patterns about the nature of man emerge. Rousseau believes that man needs to have an active engagement within society, or directly participating in society under a “General Will”. Rousseau puts more focus, on the part of the individual to make society work, with less being on the institutions at play. This directly contradicts Hobbes’ opinion that man is innately less capable of being more inherently democratic, whilst having a monarchy rule over them as a tyrant would; instead of having institutions themselves for being the whole, that is made up from the many. Essentially, Rousseau argues in more optimistic terms,...
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...developed. New instruments and machines were increasingly invented. Yet, only the males contributed to most of these tremendous developments, questioning whether or not women have an Early Modern Europe. Thus, to conclude whether women did experience an Early Modern Europe, women’s role on the movements that characterized the Early Modern Europe would have to be assessed. The period of the Renaissance was characterized by the emergence of a cultural movement, ‘humanism’, and classical art and architecture that are naturalistic, realistic, and humanistic. During this period, classical ideas were reintroduced in the increasing works of humanists and artists. Such include Petrarch’s ‘Rules for the Successful Ruler’, Machiavelli’s ‘From the Discourses on Livy’, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’, and Dürer’s ‘Adam and Eve’. These primary sources are all the works of male humanists and artists, none belonging to a woman. The absence of a female work indicates that women, whether in terms of capability or liberation, were not able to produce any piece. This signifies that women did not have the opportunity and experience that the men had. In addition, on Francesco Barbaro’s ‘Advice to Lorenzo de Medici ‘On Wifely Duties’, his expected behaviors of women seems to worsen women’s...
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