Implementing Rousseau’s Ideas of Government in Today’s Society

Section 003 In 1762, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote The Social Contract, where he believed in the popular sovereignty form of government.  That is, the government should be ruled by the people.  In his time, it would have been difficult to implement his form of government on an individual basis.  However, with today’s modern technologies, Rousseau’s ideas [...]

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Political Theory in the Declaration of Independence

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence to assert America’s independence from Britain. European philosophers, including John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, heavily influenced this document, demonstrating the significance of political theory because of its ability to inspire political action and affect the formation of new societies. Jefferson’s justification for independence rested heavily on [...]

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Professors Hobbes, Burke, and Rousseau

Now that the semester is coming to a close students are stressing out about what grades they are going to receive and many have started making excuses for why they did not get the grade they were aiming for. A majority of these excuses revolve around the professor; for example, “he/she grades too hard,” or, [...]

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Anthropological Influence on Political Theory: Rousseau

In considering the social and political development of mankind, political theorists have evaluated factors such as religious influence, established psychological concepts, and even economic theories. However, few have debated the effectiveness of the anthropological field in answering widespread questions about our sociological past. One noted theorist who was able to break this regrettable pattern was [...]

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Rousseau and Marx on Inequality

I actually started writing this a while ago, not long after we finished reading Rousseau, so some of this may seem fairly obvious now that we’ve begun reading Marx. Either way, I think this should be helpful for drawing parallels between the two writers. ———————— The issue of inequalities between people has been the focus [...]

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Rousseau and the Modern Utopia

Many would say that the perfect society would be a world where everyone is treated truly equal and there is no crime or danger. While reading Rousseau’s discourse, I was led to believe that he believed an ideal state of nature is much like the utopia that many would like to live in. In Rousseau’s [...]

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Lawgiver in Literature

After finishing reading Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, the protagonist of the novel, Siddhartha, is very similar to Rousseau’s idea of the “Lawgiver.” In the novel, Siddhartha wishes to be enlightened and is not satisfied with his father’s teachings and the teaching of others. He feels that they are not enlightened and even if they are, [...]

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Jake Friedman and Michael Barera’s group project, a website, for you to enjoy

For anyone who might be interested, for our group project Jake and I created a website that is similar to a “choose your own adventure” novel that ventures through the various states of nature we have encountered in this course.  There is a full introduction on the home page of that website (available at http://sites.google.com/site/statesofnatureexperience/), [...]

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Washington and Rousseau Don’t Like to Party (and neither do I)

In America’s modern political landscape, the presence of the two main political parties (the Republican Party and the Democratic Party) is a defining aspect of how our government is run.  Both parties seem automatically attracted to the opposite side of their opponents; in fact, the reaction that the majority of America seems to have when [...]

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Locke, Rousseau, and the Millage

On Tuesday, November 3, voters of Washtenaw County rejected a proposal to raise their property taxes.  The revenue generated by the millage was supposed to go to the Washtenaw County public school system, comprised of 10 districts with the money being distributed to these districts on a per-pupil basis. (Michigan Daily)  The debate over this [...]

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