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Mills Vs Rousseau Analysis

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Throughout the past month, we have read and discussed both The Social Contract by Jean-Jaques Rousseau and The Racial Contract by Charles Mills’. As I said before, the two philosophers derive from very opposing backgrounds, their literary works theorize vital agreements between the members of a society that unite them for the overall benefit of its citizens. Each philosopher addresses the elements and ideas, but Charles Mills’ tackles the elephant in the room involving the issue of race. Because of his ability to see the need for this unspoken issue to be incorporated, I believe that Mills' Racial Contract is more persuasive. Both Rousseau's Social Contract and Mills' Racial Contract are inferred agreements that are existent throughout …show more content…

While Rousseau’s contract originated first, it is classified as being prescriptive as well as descriptive. This means his theories in The Social Contract, are how Rousseau believes society should be conducted. Mills’ Racial Contract, on the other hand, is strictly descriptive, meaning he does not believe this is the exact way that societies should be managed. On page two of The Social Contract, Rousseau states, “Even if each man could alienate himself, he could not alienate his children: they are born men and free; their liberty belongs to them, and no one but they have the right to dispose of it” (Rousseau, Pg. 4). The idea that a contract is needed in any society in order to accomplish more and achieve greater individual security for the price of some of their rights and freedoms is prevalent in both Mills’ and Rousseau’s novels. On the contrary, White supremacy is an underlying theme throughout The Social contract, while Mills’ calls out Rousseau for objectifying “peoples of color” by ignoring them from the contract as a whole. Due to this detrimental difference in the two philosophers’ beliefs, I have to side with Charles Mills’ and his racial contract. When it is all said and done, Mills’ appropriately addresses the problem and respectfully finds a solution that is not offensive to certain

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In the final analysis, Jean-Jacques Rousseau cannot be held entirely responsible for the actions of others when he already admits the existence of weaknesses in The Social Contract. While there is some coherence in Rousseau’s ideas of natural man and his foremost duty as a citizen bound to a social contract, Rousseau attached problematic conditions of a higher body in the “legislator” and a temporary dictatorship for exceptional circumstances. This also makes it difficult to fully implicate Maximilien Robespierre for the Reign of Terror when the event spiralled out of actions that had the noble intent of The Social Contract in mind, including all of its assumptions and its contradictory and precarious elements. The difficulty of pinning responsibility

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While most individuals focus on the contributions made by theorists who were inspired by the Enlightenment era, many Counter-Enlightenment theorists made significant contributions to society today. Rousseau, who opposed the development of society away from tradition, believed that there “must be a genuine social contract in which everyone participates in creating laws for the good of society” in order for the society to flourish (Rousseau in E&A 2015:8). Today, this subjective element that individuals must come together to achieve a common interest or a common goal is evident in the American social “contract” of citizenship. U.S. citizens agree to obey federal and state laws and be productive members of society in return for safety, freedom,

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes, two titans of the Enlightenment, work within similar intellectual frameworks in their seminal writings. Hobbes, in Leviathan, postulates a “state of nature” before society developed, using it as a tool to analyze the emergence of governing institutions. Rousseau borrows this conceit in Discourse on Inequality, tracing the development of man from a primitive state to modern society. Hobbes contends that man is equal in conflict during the state of nature and then remains equal under government due to the ruler’s monopoly on authority. Rousseau, meanwhile, believes that man is equal in harmony in the state of nature and then unequal in developed society.

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