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Burke Vs Rousseau

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Rousseau and Burke both make compelling points about what was wrong with the rule under King Louis XVI before the French Revolution and both men had their own idea of how to fix the issues. Rousseau approached these issues by writing The Social Contract, a contract that argues in favor of a citizen-led government. Rousseau believes that the general will should be the system in which a society is governed. Edmund Burke, on the other hand, published Reflections on the Revolution in France in 1790 that became a defensive text for the social and political traditions of France. Burke had many opposing thoughts when compared to Rousseau on how the government should be run. Since I believe that citizens should have a say in how they are governed and their power should be checked, I lie in between Burke and Rousseau’s vision of how a civil society should be …show more content…

Burke acts indifferent towards equal representation in government, for he believes the people should continue to follow orders under the King. He fully supports the absolute monarch and agrees that the people should follow orders given by the nobility or royal family. Both men have a vision of how representation should work, but I believe that all people in the civil society should be represented equally to an authoritative figure. While I want people to be equally represented, I do not want people fully in charge. I feel this is done well in a Democracy. People are still active in political affairs and their opinions are heard by elected representatives in their local, state, and national government, but their power is checked through a system of checks and balances which prevents any one person from having access to too much power. This form of government allows more individual interests to be heard and taken into consideration, in contrast to an absolute monarchy where the people's interests are not taken into consideration at

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Reason being is because Burke says that “vast quarter of the globe, separated from us by a mighty Ocean?”, meaning that why be in control if the colonists are so far at reach. Edmund gives an option to give America its independence because of how far it is to the English Parliament, however it is not going to pass

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1225 Words | 5 Pages

Philosopher Rousseau disagreed that power came from the king, but rather it comes from the people. He believed, “The people, being subject to the laws, ought to be their author” ( Doc 5) Kings would input laws, with really no consent others, and during the enlightenment that idea was changed. Not only was the idea of divine right challenged in many ways, but also freedoms. During the Age of Absolutism, many were not able to express their opinion, nor be able to express their opinions.

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571 Words | 3 Pages

Rousseau’s beliefs coincided with the beliefs of other Enlightenment thinkers. This is shown when he writes, “Duty and interest thus equally require the two contracting parties [the people and the government] to aid each other mutually” (Document 3). In that period of history, it was typical for people to be ruled by a monarch and they had very little say, if any, in the laws and policies that impacted their day to day life. Rousseau felt that the system was outdated and it made citizens feel as if they were living in someone else’s home rather than their own, so he theorized that by fabricating a system in which the government and the people are forced to work together, it creates a sense of unity and equality. This works because “ … an offense against one of its members is an offense against the body politic.

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529 Words | 3 Pages

Edward Burke’s response to the French Revolution was a collection of thoughts that were written without any formal formatting. It is an influential writing that is in many ways still applicable to today’s society. There are many things that influenced Burke’s response to the French Revolution including his time as a Whig politician in which he was very involved in England’s political system. His views on American independence, religious tolerance for the people of Ireland, and theories on the social order, economic theory, and political principles are all factors that led to Burke’s response to Charles-Jean-François Depont with his second letter. Burke had three major trains of thought that made up his response to the Revolution.

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812 Words | 4 Pages

Rousseau’s beliefs coincided with the beliefs of other Enlightenment thinkers. This is shown when he writes, “Duty and interest thus equally require the two contracting parties [the people and the government] to aid each other mutually” (Document 3). In that period of history, it was typical for people to be ruled by a monarch and they had very little say, if any, in the laws and policies that impacted their day to day life. Rousseau felt that the system was outdated and it made citizens feel as if they were living in someone else’s home rather than their own, so he theorized that by fabricating a system in which the government and the people are forced to work together, it creates a sense of unity and equality. This works because “ … an offense against one of its members is an offense against the body politic.

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510 Words | 3 Pages

If Burke mainly aimed to relieve oppression of the government on people, Condorcet mainly aimed to seek individual freedom. Due to the social atmosphere of their era when people rose against dictatorship and tyrannies, their basic aim was to set up a democratic government which granted people of basic human rights and freedom. In order to achieve this, Burke, as a member of British Parliament, constantly urged the Parliament to limit their powers. For instance, he would propose to abandon the tax on tea. Condorcet had an intention of applying universal suffrage which led to his drafting of a plan to establish a new constitution, which was clearly a more aggressive action comparing with Burke?s.

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877 Words | 4 Pages

Rousseau, one of the most leading philosophers during the Enlightenment, had indeed left many of legendries behind. Not only his writings had caused many of the reactions at that time, but also influenced many writers’ aspects of the French Revolution and the overall understanding of inequality and the General Will. As one of the chief political theorists during the French Revolution who was also influenced by Rousseau’s ideas, Abbe Sieyes, published the pamphlet, “What is the Third Estate?” in 1789. This pamphlet was one of the documents that changed the world and lit the flame toward the French Revolution, as characterized by Joe Janes, a University of Washington professor (Janes).

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694 Words | 3 Pages

He writes with a formal tone in order to seem more analytical to the reader, and begins his essay with a thesis that states what it means “to be conservative”. Burke’s writing is slightly less formal, and is written in the form of a letter to the reader, making him seem more relatable. The informal tone of his essay helps create the perception that he is like the “common man”, therefore his political beliefs would be better suited for the public. Though they are from two very different time periods, both authors have very similar political beliefs and effectively express the fundamentals of conservative thinking.

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1498 Words | 6 Pages

Human beings are not equal, so hierarchy is natural and essentially to burke a positive consequence from inequality. Additionally, he alleged that a social contract is one that the people of a given society have with their past. Thus, Burke responded to inequality by stating only some people should participate in politics, while others who were adamant for universal suffrage, should not. This belief stemmed from the understanding that only citizens who could set aside time to contribute in politics could. He felt this would eliminate all of the lower working classes, as it was assumed that the upper class were invited for political debate.

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983 Words | 4 Pages

Before in an oligarchy or in a monarchy one person or group made the decisions about everything. This is a very basic similarity though, as the groups in each democracy do completely different things. The current American Democracy split up their responsibilities into three separate branches. These checks and balances are called; judiciary, legislative and executive. The leader of the country or president as we call him is contained in the executive branch.

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687 Words | 3 Pages

The only signs which appeared of the spirit of liberty during those periods are to be found in the writings of the French philosophers... All those writings and many others had their weight; and by the different manner in which they treated the subject of government, Montesquieu by his judgment and knowledge of laws, Voltaire by his wit, Rousseau and Raynal by their animation, and Queenay and Turgot by their moral maxims and systems of economy, readers of every class met with something to their taste, and a spirit of political inquiry began to diffuse itself through the nation at the time the dispute between England and the then colonies of America broke out. Burkes entire argument revolves around the English experience of the glorious revolution and the fact that the glorious revolution had a basis on precedent and the framework of law.

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Roland H. Stromberg (1990) emphasized that Burke considered the revolutionary ideas as philosophes’ mistakes. Political rationalists whose method was unrealistic, and plenty of abstraction (p. 36). Therefore, Burke not only adopted a counter-revolutionary attitude, but a counter-enlightenment one. The contrast between Burke’s favourable attitude to the American Revolution and his direct rejection of the French Revolution is unusual.

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1631 Words | 7 Pages

At the time of its publication, Rousseau had withdrawn from Paris and was living with a noblewoman. His location allowed him to write with little concern for the controversy surrounding his two previous Discourses, and the period was one of the most productive of his life (Delaney). He wrote as a way to address the ideas he had been accumulating from years traveling around Europe. His observations led him to argue that the rights of the people are violated in a civil society, and this should be changed under a social contract. After observing numerous governments, he concludes that people should only be governed by the Sovereign, a body with one collective will.

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833 Words | 4 Pages

Introduction Honduras is located in the heart of Central America, with a population of about 8.5 million inhabitants (source). Although in the past decade the economy had been improving, various political anomalies have been shaking the economy lately. It is known to everyone that Honduras is a third world country and that it has some serious poverty issues. Poverty is highly denoted in the rural areas of the country. This problem affects about 60 % of the population and there are many private and non-profit organizations that want to help lower this percentage.

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A key political theorist influencing the initial outbreak of the French Revolution is Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Social Contract, written by Rousseau, provided the rights the French people initially demanded. In the Social Contract, Rousseau delegitimizes absolute monarchies and popularizes rights of

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