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Ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by Text

[Swiss, 1712 - 1778, Born in Geneva. Died in Paris.]

1754 Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Intro letter p.27 19747 Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains
Intro letter p.27 19748 Plebiscites are bad, because they exclude the leaders from crucial decisions
Intro letter p.27 19746 Like rich food, liberty can ruin people who are too weak to cope with it
Intro letter p.28 19749 In a direct democracy, only the leaders should be able to propose new laws
Part I p.42 19755 Most human ills are self-inflicted; the simple, solitary, regular natural life is good
Part I p.45 19756 Humans are less distinguished from other animals by understanding, than by being free agents
Part I p.46 19757 No one would bother to reason, and try to know things, without a desire for enjoyment
Part I p.49 19758 Language may aid thinking, but powerful thought was needed to produce language
Part I p.50 19760 General ideas are purely intellectual; imagining them is immediately particular
Part I p.50 19759 Only words can introduce general ideas into the mind
Part I p.51 19762 Is language a pre-requisite for society, or might it emerge afterwards?
Part I p.51 19761 Men started with too few particular names, but later had too few natural kind names
Part I p.52 19763 I doubt whether a savage person ever complains of life, or considers suicide
Part I p.53 19765 Savages avoid evil because they are calm, and never think of it (not because they know goodness)
Part I p.54 19767 Reason leads to prudent selfishness, which overrules natural compassion
Part I p.54 19766 The fact that we weep (e.g. in theatres) shows that we are naturally compassionate
Part I p.55 19769 Rational morality is OK for brainy people, but ordinary life can't rely on that
Part I p.55 19768 The better Golden Rule is 'do good for yourself without harming others'
Part I p.55 19770 Primitive people simply redressed the evil caused by violence, without thought of punishing
Part I p.56 19771 Savage men quietly pursue desires, without the havoc of modern frenzied imagination
Part I p.58 19774 A savage can steal fruit or a home, but there is no means of achieving obedience
Part I p.58 19772 In a state of nature people are much more equal; it is society which increases inequalities
Part I p.58 19773 Without love, what use is beauty?
Part I p.59 19775 People must be made dependent before they can be enslaved
Part I p.59 19776 Small uninterrupted causes can have big effects
Part II p.60 19777 Persuading other people that some land was 'owned' was the beginning of society
Part II p.64 19779 Primitive man was very gentle
Part II p.64 19778 Leisure led to envy, inequality, vice and revenge, which we now see in savages
Part II p.65 19780 We seem to have made individual progress since savagery, but actually the species has decayed
Part II p.66 19782 What else could property arise from, but the labour people add to it?
Part II p.66 19781 Land cultivation led to a general right of ownership, administered justly
Part II p.71 19783 A state of war remains after a conquest, if the losers don't accept the winners
Part II p.72 19784 Enslaved peoples often boast of their condition, calling it a state of 'peace'
Part II p.74 19785 If the child of a slave woman is born a slave, then a man is not born a man
Part II p.76 19786 Three stages of the state produce inequalities of wealth, power, and enslavement
Part II p.77 19787 People accept the right to be commanded, because they themselves wish to command
Part II p.78 19788 The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them
Part II p.81 19789 It is against nature for children to rule old men, fools to rule the wise, and the rich to hog resources
Pref p.35 19751 Our two starting principles are concern for self-interest, and compassion for others
Pref p.35 19750 Writers just propose natural law as the likely useful agreements among people
Pref p.36 19753 Both men and animals are sentient, which should give the latter the right not to be mistreated
Pref p.36 19752 If we should not mistreat humans, it is mainly because of sentience, not rationality
Pref p.38 19754 If we have a natural right to property, what exactly does 'belonging to' mean?
1762 Emile: treatise on education
Bk III p.166 19854 We all owe labour in return for our keep, and every idle citizen is a thief
p.210 p.84 20759 Feelings are prior to intelligence; we should be content to live with our simplest feelings
1762 The Social Contract (tr Cress)
p.62 20567 Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent [Oksala]
p.83 20501 Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition [Wolff,J]
I.1 p.49 7232 Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains
I.1 p.50 7233 The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature
I.3 p.143 19790 Force can only dominate if it is seen as a right, and obedience as a duty
I.4 p.53 7234 No man has any natural authority over his fellows
I.4 p.55 7235 Without freedom of will actions lack moral significance
I.4 p.57 7236 War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory
I.4 p.145 19791 Natural mankind is too fragmented for states of peace, or of war and enmity
I.5 p.59 7237 The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society
I.5 p.59 7238 Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement
I.6 p.61 7239 The social pact is the total subjection of individuals to the general will
I.6 p.147 19792 To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power
I.6 p.148 19793 We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom
I.6 p.148 19794 If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another
I.7 p.63 7240 To foreign powers a state is seen as a simple individual
I.7 p.149 19795 The act of association commits citizens to the state, and the state to its citizens
I.7 p.150 19796 Individual citizens still retain a private will, which may be contrary to the general will
I.7 p.150 19797 Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!)
I.8 p.65 7241 In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property
I.8 p.65 7242 Appetite alone is slavery, and self-prescribed laws are freedom
I.9 p.152 19798 Ancient monarchs were kings of peoples; modern monarchs more cleverly rule a land
I.9 p.153 19800 The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally
I.9 p.153 19799 Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community
II.01 p.70 7243 Silence of the people implies their consent
II.01 p.153 19801 Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated
II.03 p.72 7244 The general will is common interest; the will of all is the sum of individual desires
II.03 p.155 19802 The general will is always right, but the will of all can err, because it includes private interests
II.03 p.156 19803 If the state contains associations there are fewer opinions, undermining the general will
II.03 p.156 19804 If a large knowledgeable population votes in isolation, their many choices will have good results
II.04 p.156 19805 Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members
II.04 p.157 19808 The general will changes its nature when it focuses on particulars
II.04 p.157 19807 Both nature and reason require that everything has a cause
II.04 p.157 19806 We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us
II.05 p.159 19809 We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary
II.05 p.159 19810 A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state
II.05 p.160 19811 Only people who are actually dangerous should be executed, even as an example
II.06 p.81 7245 Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it
II.06 p.83 7246 The general will is always good, but sometimes misunderstood
II.07 p.163 19812 Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence
II.09 p.167 19814 A state must be big enough to preserve itself, but small enough to be governable
II.10 p.168 19815 Too much land is a struggle, producing defensive war; too little makes dependence, and offensive war
II.11 p.170 19816 A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty
II.11 p.170 7247 The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality
II.11 p.170 7248 No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself
II.12 p.172 19819 The state ensures liberty, so civil law separates citizens, and binds them to the state
II.12 p.172 19818 Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed
II.12 p.172 19817 Citizens should be independent of each other, and very dependent on the state
III.01 p.173 19820 The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person
III.01 p.174 19821 I call the executive power the 'government', which is the 'prince' - a single person, or a group
III.01 p.174 19822 If the state enlarges, the creators of the general will become less individually powerful
III.01 p.175 19823 If the population is larger, the government needs to be more powerful
III.02 p.178 19824 Large populations needs stronger control, which means power should be concentrated
III.03 p.178 19825 If the sovereign entrusts government to at least half the citizens, that is 'democracy'
III.03 p.179 19826 Democracy for small states, aristocracy for intermediate, monarchy for large
III.04 p.179 19827 Law makers and law implementers should be separate
III.05 p.180 19828 Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling
III.05 p.181 19829 Natural aristocracy is primitive, and hereditary is dreadful, but elective aristocracy is best
III.05 p.181 7249 Natural aristocracy is primitive, hereditary is bad, and elective aristocracy is the best
III.06 p.184 19830 Large states need a nobility to fill the gap between a single prince and the people
III.06 p.184 19831 The highest officers under a monarchy are normally useless; the public could choose much better
III.06 p.184 19832 Democratic elections are dangerous intervals in government
III.06 p.185 19835 When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies
III.06 p.185 19833 Hereditary monarchy is easier, but can lead to dreadful monarchs
III.06 p.185 19834 Attempts to train future kings don't usually work, and the best have been unprepared
III.08 p.187 19836 The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens
III.09 p.190 19837 If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult
III.09 p.191 19838 The measure of a successful state is increase in its population
III.09 n9 p.191 19839 The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired
III.12 p.195 7250 Laws are authentic acts of the general will
III.13 p.196 19840 A citizen is a subject who is also sovereign
III.15 p.198 7251 The English are actually slaves in between elections
III.15 p.199 19841 Sometimes full liberty is only possible at the expense of some complete enslavement
III.18 p.202 19843 The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders
III.18 p.202 19842 The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract
III.18 p.203 19844 Assemblies must always confirm the form of government, and the current administration
IV.2 p.205 19846 The more unanimous the assembly, the stronger the general will becomes
IV.2 p.205 19847 We can never assume that the son of a slave is a slave
IV.3 p.207 19848 The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders
IV.8 p.220 19849 In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations
IV.8 p.221 19850 By separating theological and political systems, Jesus caused divisions in the state
IV.8 p.223 19851 Every society has a religion as its base
IV.8 p.225 7252 A tyrant exploits Christians because they don't value this life, and are made to be slaves
IV.8 p.226 19852 Civil religion needs one supreme god, an afterlife, justice, and the sanctity of the social contract
IV.8 p.227 19853 All religions should be tolerated, if they tolerate each other, and support citizenship
p.249 p.79 23607 Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident
1770 The Confessions
9-1756 p.377 19745 The nature of people is decided by the government and politics of their society