Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Tanner on Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Tanner Luffman)



Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_%28painted_portrait%29.jpg
            Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a prominent French philosopher, writer, and composer during his time. His political philosophies had an influence across Europe, which brought him critical acclaim, and helped with the overall development of modern political thought. In particular, he had a large influence on sociological, philosophical, educational and cultural thought in the eighteenth century. In regards to philosophy, Rousseau generally focused on political and social philosophy.
Like other philosophers of his time, Rousseau used the hypothetical idea of the state of nature as a guide for some of his major philosophies and publications, such as his book The Social Contract. The Social Contract outlines Rousseau’s belief that while people do give up their natural rights to live in society, people do not give up their freedom in society, unlike Hobbes who believed the opposite. Rousseau reasons that every person lives free because of the general will. The general will is roughly defined as something that is desired (in some capacity or another) by every person in society for the sake of common good. In The Social Contract, Rousseau states that, ideally, the general will is essentially what legislators should be striving to appease. There are 3 levels of general will: private will, collective will, and corporate will (according to plato.stanford.edu). Simply put, Rousseau reasons that citizens who obey the law are obeying their own wills, and as such are remaining free.
Rousseau also has an educational philosophy outlined in his treatise titled Emile or Treatise on Education. His philosophy is about a child’s development in regards to their moral compass and character and how teachers should act accordingly. For example a teacher teaches early on, and then becomes a trusted adviser later on in life. A tutor also has control over how a child can come to interpret general will. He uses a hypothetical boy named Emile. Emile’s purpose in growing up is to be able to cope with the world around him through virtue and self-mastery, because of the unnatural tendencies and imperfections society. In the treatise, he defined a child’s development in 3 different stages. Stage 1 is from birth to 12 and states a child is guided by emotion and impulses. Stage 2 is from ages 12 to 16, where the child starts to develop reasoning. Stage three is from age 16 onwards, when the child starts to develop into an adult.
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