1 Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1718)

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1718)1

“I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.”

BASIC BACKGROUND:
• Rousseau was born in a poor family in Geneva. His mother died a few months after giving birth to him, and his father was
unable to raise Rousseau in any coherent fashion. From the age of twelve he was apprenticed to various masters, but he failed
to establish him in any trade or art.
• In 1744 he went to Paris, tried his hand at various schemes like the theatre, opera, music, poetry, without making much success
of anything.
• Rousseau is considered as father of French Revolution.
• Gave ideas of Liberty, Equality & Fraternity.
• Also regarded as father of Popular Sovereignty as he gave theory of “General Will”.
• Thinker of Paradoxes.
• He suggested that – “Man should be forced to be free”.
‒ It means state can force a man to follow laws made by state representing the general will. In
case a person does not follow, state has the right to punish.
• Source of inspiration to democrats & also to totalitarian.
• When everyone was appreciating science, reason & modernity, he was criticising them.
• Man is not bad, society is bad. There is no need to man to change society.

WORK : SOCIAL CONTRACT

Prominent statements
• I gave name to very state that is governed by law, no matter what is the anme of the administration.
• Man is free but everywhere he is in chains
• Man is a novel savage and a depraved animal.
• Reason is the cause of fall for humans as it creates the concept of mine and thine.
• State of nature is a state of bliss.
• Freedom is when we live according to our own will.
• Real will gives rise to general will.
• Real will gets filtered out when we work with others.
• State is more than just the collection of individuals.
• General will is organic/ natural. It is indivisible.

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2 Political Theory

General commentaries
• Rousseau is a thinker of paradox.
• Rousseau’s will is Hobbes leviathan with its head chopped off.
• J.L. Talmon: Rousseau is the intellectual forerunner of twenty-first century.
Criticism
Bertrand Russell: Hitler is the outcome of Rousseau.

CONCERN OF ROUSSEAU
• Wanted to devise a system where man continues to enjoy liberty even in presence of authority.
• He had suggested “Reconciliation between liberty & authority”.
• How is that possible?
• When people start living under self made rules. Gandhiji had similar concerns & proposed Panchayati raj (Direct participation
of people as a means for Swaraj).

“Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”.

• It means God has given birth to free man but society & state has put so many chains of either law or customs, and have taken all freedom.
• In order to be happy, man should be free.
• His purpose is how to make the chains legitimate in place of the illegitimate chains of the contemporary society.
• For Rousseau, the contract is not a single event, but a way of thinking. Thus conceived, contract becomes a process and we can think of
alteration of human nature as also being gradual and not instantaneous.

What is freedom according to Rousseau

• When we act as per our will rather than will of others.
• Human nature according to Rousseau:
• Man is essentially good, if man has self love, man also have sympathy for others.
• State of Nature:
• State of nature is state of bliss.
• However gradually man started living a settled life. This led to growth of civilization.
It led to growth of reason. Rousseau is critic of Reason.
• Impact of Reason:
• Man lost original freedom & happiness due to reason. Reason bought man to distinguish between thine and mine.
• If man wanted to be happy again, there were 2 options
1. Going back to state of nature, but this was not practical.
2. Enter into social contract so that man can gain his happiness back.

CONCEPT OF WILL
A. Real Will: It is original will and essentially good.
B. Actual Will: It is shaped by society & its polluted will. Man is selfish here.
‒ Since man is essentially good, Real Will is always be good.
‒ We are free only when we act according to our original will.
‒ Actual will is contaminated by our environment in which we live. It is called actual will because we
behave actually in this way.
‒ When we act with our Actual Will, we are not free, rather it is an illusion of freedom.

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Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1718)3

General Will
• General will is sum of Original Wills/Real will of all. Man is free only when he follows his original will.
• All people agree that they will act with their original will because it is assumed that everyone wants to be happy & free.
• General will is representative of state. General will represent popular sovereignty. General Will can be called as “will of the state”. State
in this case represents people who are sovereign over themselves. People are sovereign because they are governed by the laws made by
themselves.
• General will is supreme and everyone is to act according to it. General will or state can punish a person who doesn’t act according to it.
• Constitution represents general will. Original Will is expressed on form of law made by state.
• Man is free when he follows law. Therefore Rousseau suggested that “Man should be forced to be free”. Man should participate in the
formulation of will
Objective of General will
• Since man cannot go back to state of nature, he has to find a system of authority, which ensures liberty. When man is under self made laws.
Then at that point man will be free under the presence of state. At that point man will also participate in the formulation of laws.

THEORY OF SOVEREIGNTY

Types of Sovereignty:
• Legal Sovereignty: Exponent is Hobbes, legally speaking state is sovereign & law is command of sovereign. Sovereign has power to punish
who doesn’t follow law.
• Political Sovereignty: Exponent is John Locke, Sovereignty of state is actually exercise of power by party which forms govt.
• Philosophical Sovereignty: Exponent is Rousseau. Sovereignty lies with people. It is philosophical because it is just an idea.

Rousseau had devised the concept of popular sovereignty. It stands for the supreme authority of the general will in the society.
General will reflecting the higher self of each member is morally superior to actual will. Sovereignty of the general will ensures
rule of the right reason which is constantly devoted to common good. General will is elevated to the position of an absolute
unlimited and inalienable sovereignty.
Rousseau starts with describing civil society as an expression of superior will but ends up with treating it as an expression of
superior reason. He starts with the mechanistic view of state but ends up with the organic view of state.
Rousseau’s concept of popular sovereignty doesn’t rely on any principle of higher law but regards organised power of the
people as the source of all reason to determine what is right or wrong.
Rousseau commended popular sovereignty for two reasons
• Sovereignty should be commended on the will of the people
• Sovereignty should be exercised for common good or public good.
The first reason considers sovereignty as a right and the second one as a duty. The two concepts were often mixed up leading
to rise of absolutism or totalitarianism. When sovereign is not bound by duty he is no longer capable of upholding true democracy.
Therefore Rousseau’s philosophy must be taken with a note of caution.

Rousseau’s “general will” is Hobbes’s “Leviathan” with its head chopped off.
• Rousseau is known as thinker of paradoxes. His ideas give rise to contradictory thoughts. On one hand, he is seen as the champion of
liberty. On the other hand, his theory provides basis for the justification of state absolutism / totalitarianism. Some scholars believe that
there is no difference in Hobbes’s ‘Leviathan’ and Rousseau’s general will. If Hobbes suggests that “covenants without sword are nothing
but words”, Rousseau suggests “Man should be forced to be free.”
• Rousseau’s ideas were manipulated by totalitarian leaders like Hitler and Mussolini, to justify absolute powers of the state. However it
would be injustice with Rousseau if we call him as totalitarian. When Rousseau gives the concept of general will, he also gives the pre-
requisite that people should be participating in the formulation of laws, acting with their real will. The concept is very similar to the
Gandhian concept of Swaraj. Though his thoughts have been manipulated by totalitarian leaders, but it is wrong to call him totalitarian.

ROUSSEAU AS A THINKER OF PARADOXES

Rousseau as a liberal: The concern for liberty. Rousseau believes that property is necessary for good life
Rousseau as a socialist: (Source of inspiration for socialists).

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4 Political Theory

Rousseau believes that private property is a cause of social inequalities. Rousseau inspired socialists because he emphasized
that society has to be changed.
Rousseau as an inspiration of totalitarians: State represents the general will, general will is always right. It means the laws
made by state are always right and man can be forced to be free.
Rousseau as an idealist: His conception of real will is a metaphysical concept. The importance he gives to the collectivism

MODEL QUESTIONS
Q. “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”. Comment
Q. Comment on Rousseau’s critic of civil society.

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