Jean-Jacques Rousseau
People are naturally good but society corrupts them, and a just state follows the general will – what the citizens will together for the common good, not the sum of their private wishes.
Placement
Man is good by nature, society corrupts him; popular sovereignty and the general will.
Key ideas
- Volonté générale
- State of nature
- Education according to nature
Influence
Influenced by 5
Plato
influenced by
In Emile (1762) Rousseau sent readers seeking an idea of public education to Plato’s Republic, ‘not a political work’ but ‘the finest treatise on education ever written’. J.-J. Rousseau, Émile ou De l’éducation (1762), Book I; SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: AI draft
Plato › 428–348 BCE
Niccolò Machiavelli
influenced by
In The Social Contract (1762) Rousseau read Machiavelli as a republican who, under the guise of instructing kings, gave peoples great lessons: The Prince is ‘the book of republicans’. J.-J. Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762), “De la monarchie”; SEP “Niccolò Machiavelli”
Evidence: AI draft
Niccolò Machiavelli › 1469–1527
John Locke
influenced by
Rousseau’s Emile (1762) builds on ‘the wise Locke’ and his Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693), while rejecting its maxim of reasoning with children. J.-J. Rousseau, Émile ou De l’éducation (1762); J. Locke, Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
John Locke › 1632–1704
Montesquieu
influenced by
Rousseau accepted as ‘established by Montesquieu’ the principle that liberty, not being a fruit of every climate, is not within every people’s reach (Social Contract, 1762). J.-J. Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762), Book III; Montesquieu, De l’esprit des lois (1748); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Montesquieu › 1689–1755
Denis Diderot
influenced by
Visiting the imprisoned Diderot at Vincennes in 1749, Rousseau was encouraged by him to answer the Dijon prize question (Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, 1750). J.-J. Rousseau, Les Confessions (1782–89); Discours sur les sciences et les arts (1750); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Denis Diderot › 1713–1784
Influenced 13
Immanuel Kant
influenced ✓
In his Remarks on the Observations (1764–65) Kant wrote that Rousseau had set him right: he learned to honour human beings, not only to prize knowledge. I. Kant, Bemerkungen in den “Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen” (1764–65); SEP “Kant’s Moral Philosophy”
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
influenced ✓
Fichte’s Lectures on the Scholar’s Vocation (1794) examined Rousseau’s claims about the arts and sciences, honouring him but turning his longing for the past into forward striving. J. G. Fichte, Einige Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten (1794); SEP “Johann Gottlieb Fichte”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Johann Gottlieb Fichte › 1762–1814
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
influenced ✓
Hegel credited Rousseau with making the will the principle of the state, though he faulted the general will as a common will of individuals (Philosophy of Right, 1820). G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1820), on the state; SEP “Hegel’s Social and Political Philosophy”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
Leo Tolstoy
influenced ✓
Tolstoy told Paul Boyer (1901) that Rousseau had been his master since he was fifteen; he wore a medallion with Rousseau’s portrait instead of a cross. P. Boyer, interview with Tolstoy (1901); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Leo Tolstoy › 1828–1910
Émile Durkheim
influenced
In lectures on the Social Contract (printed 1918) Durkheim read Rousseau’s general will as anticipating his view of society as a moral reality above individuals. É. Durkheim, “Le Contrat social de Rousseau”, Revue de métaphysique et de morale 25 (1918), in Montesquieu et Rousseau, précurseurs de la sociologie (1953); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: AI draft
Émile Durkheim › 1858–1917
John Rawls
influenced
Rawls placed justice as fairness in Rousseau’s contract tradition and read the general will as citizens’ shared reasoning about the common good (lectures, publ. 2007). J. Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, ed. S. Freeman (2007); A Theory of Justice (1971); SEP “John Rawls”
Evidence: AI draft
John Rawls › 1921–2002
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Johann Gottfried Herder
influenced
In his Journal of My Voyage in 1769 Herder sketched Rousseauian plans of education, and his Treatise on the Origin of Language (1772) argued with Rousseau’s Second Discourse. J. G. Herder, Journal meiner Reise im Jahr 1769 (publ. 1846); Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache (1772); SEP “Johann Gottfried von Herder”
Evidence: AI draft
Johann Gottfried Herder › 1744–1803
Olympe de Gouges
influenced
Gouges’ Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791) ends with a ‘Form for a Social Contract between Man and Woman’ that, echoing Rousseau, recasts marriage as a contract. O. de Gouges, Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne (1791), postscript; J. W. Scott, Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man (1996)
Evidence: AI draft
Olympe de Gouges › 1748–1793
Sophie de Grouchy
influenced
Evelyn Forget reads Grouchy’s Letters on Sympathy (1798) as seeing Smith through Rousseau, notably in tying the growth of sympathy to Rousseauian ideas of education. S. de Grouchy, Lettres sur la sympathie (1798); E. L. Forget, “Cultivating Sympathy: Sophie Condorcet’s Letters on Sympathy”, Journal of the History of Economic Thought (2001)
Evidence: AI draft
Sophie de Grouchy › 1764–1822
Rifa’a al-Tahtawi
influenced
Al-Tahtawi listed Rousseau’s Social Contract among the political works he read in Paris and judged it very valuable. R. al-Ṭahṭāwī, Takhlīṣ al-ibrīz (1834); Newman 2004; A. Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age (1962)
Evidence: AI draft
Rifa’a al-Tahtawi › 1801–1873
Alexis de Tocqueville
influenced
Tocqueville named Rousseau, with Pascal and Montesquieu, as authors he ‘lived with’ a little each day (1836); P. A. Rahe finds all three present in Democracy in America. A. de Tocqueville, letter to L. de Kergorlay (Nov. 1836); P. A. Rahe, Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect (2009)
Evidence: AI draft
Alexis de Tocqueville › 1805–1859
Liang Qichao
influenced
Liang Qichao introduced Rousseau’s social contract and popular sovereignty in ‘On Rousseau’ (Lusuo xue’an, 1901), turning after 1903 to Bluntschli’s theory of the state. Liang Qichao, Lusuo xue’an (1901); Zhengzhixue dajia Bolunzhili zhi xueshuo (1903); H. Chang, Liang Ch’i-ch’ao and Intellectual Transition in China (1971)
Evidence: AI draft
Liang Qichao › 1873–1929
Claude Lévi-Strauss
influenced
In a lecture of 1962 Lévi-Strauss called Rousseau founder of the human sciences, making his identification with the other and all living beings anthropology’s principle. C. Lévi-Strauss, “Jean-Jacques Rousseau, fondateur des sciences de l’homme” (1962), in Anthropologie structurale deux (1973); Tristes tropiques (1955); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: AI draft
Claude Lévi-Strauss › 1908–2009
Criticism
Criticized by 8
Edmund Burke
criticised by
Burke called Rousseau ‘the insane Socrates of the National Assembly’ and attacked his ‘philosophy of vanity’ (Letter to a Member of the National Assembly, 1791). E. Burke, A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)
Evidence: AI draft
Edmund Burke › 1729–1797
Mary Wollstonecraft influenced
influenced
Wollstonecraft shared Rousseau’s critique of rank and luxury and his call for an education strengthening body and mind, but extended it to girls (Rights of Woman, 1792). M. Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792); SEP “Mary Wollstonecraft”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Wollstonecraft attacked Rousseau’s Émile for training Sophie for dependence and pleasing men, insisting that women need the same rational education as men (Rights of Woman, 1792, ch. 5). M. Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), ch. 5; SEP “Mary Wollstonecraft”
Evidence: AI draft
Mary Wollstonecraft › 1759–1797
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
criticised by
Proudhon found ‘no vestige’ of a real contract in Rousseau’s Social Contract, only a legitimation of government instead of free agreements (General Idea of the Revolution, 1851). P.-J. Proudhon, Idée générale de la Révolution au XIXe siècle (1851); H. Rosenblatt & P. Schweigert, “Rousseau and Proudhon”, in Thinking with Rousseau (2017)
Evidence: AI draft
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon › 1809–1865
Isaiah Berlin
criticised by
Berlin saw in Rousseau’s general will, which can ‘force’ a citizen ‘to be free’, a source of positive liberty turned into coercion (Freedom and Its Betrayal, 1952). I. Berlin, Freedom and Its Betrayal (BBC lectures 1952; publ. 2002); J.-J. Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762), I.7
Evidence: AI draft
Isaiah Berlin › 1909–1997
Jacques Derrida
criticised by
In Of Grammatology (1967) Derrida argued that Rousseau condemns writing as a dangerous supplement to speech and nature, while his texts depend on the supplement throughout. J. Derrida, De la grammatologie (1967), part II, chs. 2–4; J.-J. Rousseau, Essai sur l’origine des langues; Confessions III
Evidence: AI draft
Jacques Derrida › 1930–2004
Carole Pateman influenced
influenced
Pateman made Rousseau the central theorist of participatory democracy, in which citizens learn self-government by taking part in it (Participation and Democratic Theory, 1970). C. Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory (1970); J.-J. Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762)
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Pateman argued that Rousseau’s social contract rests on a prior ‘sexual contract’ that subordinates women and keeps them out of the civil order (The Sexual Contract, 1988). C. Pateman, The Sexual Contract (1988); “The Disorder of Women: Women, Love, and the Sense of Justice”, Ethics 91 (1980)
Evidence: AI draft
Carole Pateman › b. 1940
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Catharine Macaulay
criticised by
In Letters on Education (1790) Macaulay rejected Rousseau’s separate education for girls, holding that virtue and reason have no sex and that both sexes should be taught alike. C. Macaulay, Letters on Education (1790), Part I; SEP “Catharine Macaulay”
Evidence: AI draft
Catharine Macaulay › 1731–1791
Charles W. Mills
criticised by
Mills argued that Rousseau’s ‘savages’ are always non-Europeans, and that his account of Europe’s lead through metallurgy and agriculture is historically inaccurate (The Racial Contract, 1997). C. W. Mills, The Racial Contract (1997); J.-J. Rousseau, Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité (1755), part II
Evidence: AI draft
Charles W. Mills › 1951–2021
Criticizes 4
Hugo Grotius
criticised
Rousseau objected that Grotius establishes right by fact, deriving a right to enslave captives and subject peoples from what actually happens (Social Contract, 1762, I.2, I.4). J.-J. Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762), I.2, I.4
Evidence: AI draft
Hugo Grotius › 1583–1645
Thomas Hobbes influenced by
influenced by
In The Social Contract (1762) Rousseau praised Hobbes as the only Christian author who dared to reunite the ‘two heads of the eagle’, state and church. J.-J. Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762), “De la religion civile”; SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised
Rousseau objected that Hobbes gave natural man the passions of social man and overlooked natural pity (Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, 1755, Part I). J.-J. Rousseau, Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité (1755), Part I; SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: AI draft
Thomas Hobbes › 1588–1679
Bernard Mandeville
criticised
Rousseau granted Mandeville that pity is natural but objected that he missed that generosity, clemency and humanity all flow from it (Second Discourse, 1755). J.-J. Rousseau, Discours sur l’origine de l’inégalité (1755), Part I
Evidence: AI draft
Bernard Mandeville › 1670–1733
Voltaire
criticised
Rousseau answered Voltaire’s Lisbon poem by defending Providence: the city’s people, not nature, had crowded twenty thousand tall houses together (Letter to Voltaire, 18 August 1756). J.-J. Rousseau, Lettre à Voltaire sur la Providence, 18 Aug. 1756; Voltaire, Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (1756)
Evidence: AI draft
Voltaire › 1694–1778
Works
The first man who enclosed a piece of ground was the true founder of civil society.
A natural education – for Emile; Sophie, by contrast, is raised to be his companion.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains – popular sovereignty.
- 1782Confessions
Twelve books on his life up to 1765, written 1765–1770 and published after his death (1782 and 1789): he means to show a man “in all the truth of nature” – including the ribbon he stole and blamed on a young servant, and the five children he left at the foundling hospital.
Position
Rousseau argued that human beings are naturally good, free and self-sufficient, and that it is society – property, competition and the craving for recognition – that makes them unequal and corrupt. But there is no way back to nature. The Social Contract instead seeks a political order in which each, by uniting with all, “obeys only himself”: legitimate laws express the general will of the people, which is sovereign. In Emile he sketched an education that follows the child’s natural development – though its fifth book subordinates the girl Sophie’s education to Emile’s needs, the target of Mary Wollstonecraft’s critique. Rousseau’s ideas inspired the French Revolution, Kant’s concept of autonomy and Romanticism, and his critique of civilisation still resonates today.
Life & context
Born in Geneva in 1712, Rousseau lost his mother at birth, left home as a teenager and taught himself through years of wandering. In Paris he befriended Diderot and won fame with a prize essay in 1750; the five children he had with Thérèse Levasseur he gave to a foundling hospital. When Emile and The Social Contract were condemned in 1762 he had to flee; a stay in England with Hume ended in a quarrel. He died in 1778 at Ermenonville.
Further main works
- Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (1750)
- Julie, or the New Heloise (1761)
- Reveries of the Solitary Walker (written 1776–1778, published 1782)
Appears in
- Journey ‘What Is Just?’ · Stop 5 of 10
- Debate ‘Hume and Rousseau: The Quarrel of 1766’
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