Thoughts on Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s Philosophy

Thoughts on Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s Philosophy
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‘Thoughts on Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s Philosophy’
Most theorists have tried their best to establish a reasonable basis as to why tyrannical states exist. Rousseau’s work on “The Social Contract” was therefore celebrated by politicians and philosophers, and most of his quotes were adopted for political rallies. As much as the work stresses freedom through democracy, “People cannot oppress themselves,” the philosophy entails various significant yet ambiguous phrases. The ‘general will’ phrase is a good example that the philosopher adopts to mean that people have a shared interest that is considered in the contract. This ideology may be theoretically true but practically impossible leading to the ‘majority rule’ adopted by the same philosopher based on how impractical the general will was. Majoritarianism is a complete contradiction of his previous democracy beliefs since history exhibits the oppressive nature of such a regime on minority groups.
Secondly, Rosseau’s social contract gives the state authority to govern how people live as well as the ownership of property. A contract may simply be referred to as entailing the following primary aspects; parties agree voluntarily and the rights and responsibilities of each party clearly articulated. The social contract proposed by Rosseau does not seem to meet the above primary conditions of a contract hence the question of whether it is actually a contract. The ambiguity of the phrase ‘social contract’ creates room for slavery and theft that if not looked into carefully, seem legal and acceptable.

According to the social contract, which is presumed to be voluntary, failure to enter into the social contract with the state warrants one an exile and confiscation of their property. Some of the values embraced and supported by Rosseau are used even in the current political world and will continue to legitimize dictatorship until they are addressed.