What Is Rousseau's Argument Against The Time Of Divine Right

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Rousseau was a philosopher in the 1700’s whose musings contributed to the period of “Enlightenment” and the later philosophy motivating the French Revolution. He spends most of The Social Contract writing about the ideas of legitimate authority, the rights of the governed, and individual freedom. Rousseau argues against the popular notion of the time of “Divine Right”. Nobody was given the right to govern anyone else without their consent. People must be in convention with their leaders in order for a government’s power to be legitimate. Rousseau talks about the fact that the only natural society is a family, in which the father provides for his children. He claims that this relationship is vastly different than one of a leader and his people,