Political Philosophy by Rousseau - Essay Example

191510 The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges George Washington, 1783 Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau; Mock on, mock on; 'tis all in vain! You throw the sand against the wind, And the wind blows it back again. William Blake Law - An abstract expression of the general will that is universally applicable. Laws deal only with the people collectively, and cannot deal with any particulars. They are essentially a record of what the people collectively desire. Laws exist to ensure that people remain loyal to the sovereign in all cases. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/socialcontract/characters.html Rousseau, the prince among thinkers, thought that the collective participation of the people is necessary for creating the law of the state. He thought that to be a good citizen the person has to conduct many democratic and participatory tasks and law creation is one of them. "Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains" he said (181)1. He is free only if he can express his interest and individuality. He said, "Each man in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody" (192). He was placing the individual in a responsible and responsive society that can create, run a government and participate in it. Collective decisions are the core of democracy, equality, liberty, fraternity. "As an ideal, the general will is, for Rousseau, a genuine universal.It is the unity through which the addictive collection of wills gets its meaning," Dyke (1969, p.23). Rousseau argues in favour of general will at every step. "The general will is the will of all when we are not thinking about our own selfish interests but about the general interest" Roberts (1997). . According to him if the laws of the land are good, it will reflect in the goodness of citizens and hence, the law is the root cause of good and bad both and so is highly significant. Especially the political, fundamental laws have to be wise and they connect the sovereign to people, one citizen to another, and connect the law to citizens. They also form the constitution of the state, which can wield power in every day life of the citizen. It is in the interest of all, it will affect all and rules all, and hence, participation of all is necessary. "Rousseau's theory has often been decried as too abstract and metaphysical. This is in many ways its great strength; but where it is excessively so, the accident of time is to blame" http://www.4literature.net/Jean_Jacques_Rousseau/The_Social_Contract/ He never talks of an individual without talking of collectivity. "The most basic convent, the social pact, is the agreement to come together and form a people, a collectivity"2.is "the real foundation of society," (p.59) and such general will must be "forced to be free" (64). His democracy is the most direct, extremely strong kind and it depended on the general will coming together frequently to make rules for themselves. They should identify each other and the common interests. We should remember that the states were smaller in those days. He did not want the common man to loosen his grip over the authority. "The constant will of all the members of the state is the general will; by virtue of it, they are citizens and free." He also says that liberty is impossible if the general will in majority ceases. "To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even it duties," he says on slavery and hence, making of law is the duty and right of the individual. "This general will is supposed to represent the common good or public interest - and it is something that each individual has a hand in making. All citizens should participate - and should be committed to the general good - even if it means acting against their private or personal interests." http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm Even though he calls sovereignty as inalienable and indivisible, he unhesitatingly mentions the limits of sovereignty, because it is the nature that gives man absolute power which, 'under the direction of the general willbears the name of sovereignty' and such a sovereign 'cannot impose upon its subjects any fetters' because 'general will is always in the right' he says. He argues that 'all stand in need of guidance'. He declares, 'people being subject to the laws, ought to be their author,' because the conditions of the society should be regulated only by them, who are part of it. And they have to bring 'their wills into conformity with their reason'. "Rousseau was calling for a rebuilding of the social contract from the ground up in order to ensure equality and freedom" http://www.wsu.edu/dee/GLOSSARY/SOCCON.HTM He said 'justice cannot be defined as the right of the strongest' and hence, even the weakest has to participate in the decision making process. He stood for totalitarian democracy. He is thinking of a well-ordered society. "Only a society's general will, according to Roussseau, transforms the mere fact of power into right," Riley (1978, p.498). Rousseau claims: "The law of majority voting is itself something established by convention, and presupposes unanimity on one occasion at least" (p.190). It must have looked unreasonable and illogical in the late 18th century. But he called for pure democracy that does not exist even today. "A pure democracy run according to majoritarian principles might be the best example of the will of all." Williams (2005, p.385). Critics rightly pointed out that the problem of consent will arise and it is not very practical. Still Kant called Rousseau the 'Newton of the moral world'. "For Rousseau an unnameable, rational, an unidentifiable, a priori concepts originates the authority of general laws," Conklin (2001, p.135). Another fact exists that he was talking about smaller states. "Rousseau believed democracy to be only suitable for very small communities for he would allow or admit representation," Freidrich (1963, p.124). He said "taking men as they are and the laws as they might be" he tried to show "how the concept of a just state can be conceived without contradiction" Levine (2002, p.96). But about the principles he was putting forth, there was absolute clarity in his mind and he wanted to bring people under suitable laws. "He sees with frightening clarity that we could be made victims of our sensations and experiences, if we were not taught how to master them," Hampsher (1992, p.156). So, naturally, laws were extremely important and he tried to connect them with the democratic, totalitarian, absolutely sovereign society and hence, the law making had to be the role of every individual of such a society. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Conklin, William E. (2001), The Invisible Origins of Legal Positivism, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands. 2. Dyke, C., 'Collective decision making in Rousseau, Kant, Hegel and Mill', Ethics, Vol. 80, No. 1. (Oct., 1969), pp. 21-37. 3. Freiderich, Carl J. (1963), The Philosophy of Law in Historical Perspective, University of Chicago Press. 4. Hampsher-Monk, Iain (2002), A History of Modern Political thought, Blackwell, Oxford. 5. Levine, Andrew (2002), Engaging Political Philosophy, Blackwell, Malden. 6. Riley, Patrick, 'The General Will Before Rousseau', Political Theory, Vol. 6, No. 4, Special Issue: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (Nov., 1978), pp. 485-516. 7. Roberts, Andrew (1997), Rousseau, the French Revolution, Women and the Slaves, Middlesex University. 8. Williams, David Lay, 'Justice and the General Will', Journal of the History of Ideas 66.3 (2005) 383-411. ONLINE SOURCES 1. http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/soc-cont.htm#SH2c 2. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/socialcontract/characters.html 3. http://www.4literature.net/Jean_Jacques_Rousseau/The_Social_Contract/ 4. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm 5. http://www.wsu.edu/dee/GLOSSARY/SOCCON.HTM 6. Read More