What are the passions for Rousseau?
What are the passions for Rousseau?
Rousseau compares these two kinds of passion-self-love and vanity- on the condition that acquiring consciousness related to the perfectibility.
Who is the lawgiver in the social contract?
The lawgiver is “special and superior” to the sovereign and the government, and must not be involved in legislation or the execution of laws, which must also be separate from one another. This is why many early city-states had foreigners make their laws.
What is nature for Rousseau?
The state of nature, for Rousseau, is a morally neutral and peaceful condition in which (mainly) solitary individuals act according to their basic urges (for instance, hunger) as well as their natural desire for self-preservation. This latter instinct, however, is tempered by an equally natural sense of compassion.
What is Rousseau’s general will?
general will, in political theory, a collectively held will that aims at the common good or common interest. The general will is central to the political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and an important concept in modern republican thought.
Who is the lawgiver Rousseau?
Rousseau’s proposed solution comes in the form of a lawgiver. An ideal lawgiver is not easy to find. He must be supremely intelligent, and willing to work selflessly on behalf of a people. Because the laws shape the character and behavior of the people to a great extent, the lawgiver must exhibit great insight.
What were Rousseau beliefs?
Rousseau argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and to make the laws of the land. Rousseau had in mind a democracy on a small scale, a city-state like his native Geneva.
What are the main features of Rousseau’s theory of general will?
Rousseau characterized general will as being always abstract, establishing rules and setting up systems of government, but never being specific about which individuals were subject to the rules or about who the particular members of social classes or the particular rulers in the government were.
