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Locke And Rousseau Analysis

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Isabelle Topper Political Science 175s 4/14/17 Question 2: Locke and Rousseau: Private Property as a Source of Evil? John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are two important political philosophers whose work helped shape notions of the state of nature and property rights. In Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government, and Rousseau’s, Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract, they discuss their respective views on the state of nature, and how the government should solve the problems posed by political life. Both Locke and Rousseau propose a government with limited powers based on an original consent, but their arguments diverge with regard to property rights. Locke argues that property rights preexist society, and that men leave the state …show more content…

Rousseau writes, “The first man, who after enclosing a piece of ground, took it into his head to say, this is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, is the real founder of civil society” (2, 113). He argues that one of the first revolutions in history was when men started becoming more industrial and creating for themselves (2, 116). This revolution forced men to begin developing unfulfillable desires and needs, and created a sense of competition between individuals. Once this notion of amour-propre developed, property became more important; Rousseau explains, “It became the interest of men to appear what they really were not. To be and to seem became two very different things, and from this distinction sprang haughty pomp and deceitful knavery” (Discourse, 2, 122). While inequality was non-existent in the state of nature, the onset of property and therefore the establishment of society caused inequality to arise. For Rousseau, private property was the demise of the state of nature. Property forced individuals to begin competing with one another and enter into society, thereby restricting their individual freedoms and equality within the state of …show more content…

Locke’s argument seems to lose its stamina when the notion of money as property is introduced, because it suggests that therefore property is boundless and man is entitled to as much money as he makes for himself. Rousseau, in my opinion, offers a stronger argument that property leads to inequality. Particularly with the importance of money in modern society, private property has become both hereditary and seemingly unlimited, which allows people to monopolize resources through their monetary wealth, thereby perpetuating

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While we can read about liberty and the state of nature in Rousseau and, at least implicitly, in Madison, we cannot necessarily determine where these views come from. Why does Rousseau view the state of nature as slavery to one’s instincts? Why does Madison think negative liberties are so important? While a possible explanation could refer to their views about human nature, this explanation is hard to support with Memorial and Remonstrance and On the Social Contract alone. More analysis of Rousseau and Madison’s other works could provide richer context for this particular disagreement, shedding light on the views of two tremendously influential thinkers about politics and

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The creation of the United States was a long process that was influenced by many different individuals with many different thoughts and ideas. Jean Jacques Rousseau was one of many who contributed ideas that helped shaped our government as we know it, but his ideas were the most important to consider when creating the United States Government, followed by the ideas of Montesquieu, John Locke, and Voltaire. Rousseau believed that a government couldn't function properly if the people were unwilling to submit to a higher authority, thus creating the concept of the consent of the governed. All the men and women who helped create this country wanted to create something that was different than what they were used to. In the 1500’s and 1600’s, European thinkers began to raise

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The creation of the United States was a long process that was influenced by many different individuals with many different thoughts and ideas. Jean Jacques Rousseau was one of many who contributed ideas that helped shaped our government as we know it, but his ideas were the most important to consider when creating the United States Government, followed by the ideas of Montesquieu, John Locke, and Voltaire. Rousseau understood that a government couldn't function properly if the people were unwilling to submit to a higher authority, thus creating the concept of the consent of the governed. All the men and women who helped create this country wanted to create something that was different than what they were used to. In the 1500’s

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John Locke views civil society—a group that is under the authority of an exclusive leader who is in charge of protecting their welfare through legislation—as a crucial repellant to absolute monarchy as well as vital to protecting an individual’s property, because its origin which is the paternal model where an individual gives up certain rights in return for protection from an executive. In his Second Treatise on Government, Locke pushes the idea that God did not intend for a man to be alone, but to have the option of joining a society amongst other men. Continuing with this notion, he explains the origins of the civil society through the paternal model which he considers as the beginning of society of people coming together under one man.

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John Locke is a famous and influential 17th century English philosopher and political theorist who not only influenced and laid the ground work for the Enlightenment, but who also influenced the foundations of the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Being one of the authors of the Social Contract Theory, he paved the way for democracy, republicanism and liberalism. One of his most important and notable work’s to this day is the “Two Treatises of Civil Government,” which is the document in which the American founding fathers accredited their work to as they used his political theories to draft both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

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This is comparable to Charles Manson's situation in that he, too, was able to empower his followers. He was able to trick people into believing they were making their own decisions and drawing their own conclusions when they weren't. Because of the picture Charles was able to paint, Manson's followers felt they were fighting for a worthy cause. Manson had a contagious personality when he needed it.

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In contrast to Hobbes, who argues social bonds form to regulate human nature, Rousseau argues that the formation of the civil state results from and in a “change in man,” that humans must of necessity be denatured in the process of forming society. There are similarities between the two’s philosophies, but it is Rousseau, through his arguments that human nature can be changed, who articulates a political vision more consistent with the claim that humans are asocial by nature. In the beginning, the arguments of both Hobbes and Rousseau are similar. Man in nature is isolated.

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Before commenting on Locke and Rousseau’s policies, one must examine their basis for property, inequality, and

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John Locke and Rousseau were very famous in developing philosophy that would influence the future of the political approaches. John Locke was a great philosopher of the modern age. He presented the groundwork that would acknowledge for liberal democracy. Rousseau was also another great philosopher of his era, who perhaps boldly established the foundation for totalitarianism. Rousseau was a supporter of his own form of totalitarianism while John Locke supported in individualism, the groundwork for a truly free State.

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Although the two eras overlap, the Baroque era and the Enlightenment differ drastically from one another. Generally pictured and thought of as an artistic movement, the Baroque era eventually led to the Enlightenment, a more philosophical-based movement. In the Baroque era, people gained fame for their artistic talents. During the Enlightenment, people gained fame due to their scientific ideas and work.

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On the other hand, Werther takes an extremely Romantic approach, with his life and experiences demonstrating the limitations of a rational society. In Discourse on the Origin of Moral Inequality, Rousseau rationally determines that the emergence of society and the invention of property directly cause moral inequality between people, specifically, the rich and the poor. First, he establishes the state of nature as a basic system, with no complex morality or rationality involved, unlike the states of nature described by Hobbes and Locke. At the most fundamental degree, Rousseau places mankind at the same level as other animals.

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In his work Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Rousseau presents the argument that political inequality is rooted in the origins of human sociality. He suggests that in the state of nature, only physical inequality existed. Thusly meaning that political inequality only came into being as a result of human beings shifting from undifferentiated oneness to differentiated individuals. He illustrates three main stages that lead to this (civil society): the development of village life, the social division of labor and the formation of government. In forming society, we as human beings entered into social relationships and so were able to socially construct agreed upon measurements of human worth (i.e. private property) and so create political inequalities.

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“This right does not come from nature, it is therefore founded upon convention”. Rousseau does not view society in the same light as Durkheim. He does not believe that society is the savior of humans and that there is no real self without it. Unlike Durkheim, Rousseau believes that the only natural society is the traditional family and that any other form is forged out of convention. Rousseau mentions that when parents are done raising their child and that child is no longer dependent, but chooses to stay then the family is together out if convention and is then unnatural.

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Locke's most important and influential political writings are contained in his Two Treatises on Government. The first treatise is concerned almost exclusively with refuting the argument that political authority was derived from religious authority. The second treatise contains Locke’s own constructive view of the aims and justification for civil government. According to Locke, the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one's life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others. This does not mean, however, that it is a state of license: one is not free to do anything at all one pleases, or even anything that one judges to be in one’s interest.

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Thus, both men would evaluate the statement that “in a legitimate state all men are free and there is no inequality,” differently. Rousseau would mostly disagree, holding that the state itself is the impetus for inequality. Hobbes would largely agree, contending that men are equal both in a primitive state of conflict and under a sovereign’s awesome power. These different responses result from the philosophers’ opposing views on fundamental human nature, civil society’s raison d’etre, and government’s inevitable form. --- Rousseau begins his

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