0.Introduction
A paragon who really tried to make a paradigm shift in the social world,the man who said rather narrated a way to obey the state without breaking ones freedom, Jean Jacques Rousseau.He was a Swiss orb French philosopher.essayist, novelist and musician best known for his theories on social freedom and social rights , education and religion.
rousseau's work can be seen inthree perspectives.As a social contract theorist, he attempts to construct a hypotheticalstate of nature to explain current human situation.
As a social commentor, he speaks of both practical and ideal forms of education andsocial
organization. As a moralist, he continually
attempts to unite the individual and the citizen through some form of universal political actions or consent.
One of the most quoted remarks in the whole political philosophy is the sentence with which he begins his book " Of the social Contract ", "...man is born free but everywhere he is in chains". The chains he speaks are not of dictatorship but of legitimacy.
We'll discuss bits of " Of the social contract" , " Emile" and it's pertainence to a few contemperory issues.
1..Rousseau and the theory of social contract
For understanding rousseau's philosophy in a better way we ought to know certain basic norms.. Some group which makes and enforces the laws is called a state . The purposes of the state may vary accordingly. The common aspect of state, we say is not the end but that the state uses power to enforce the rules. Secondly and most importantly state has an Authority to see to the rules. The belief in the legitimacy of the state is the glue that holds together the political Society. Hence state can be defined as 'a group of people who claim the right to enforce obedience to their commands within a territory and succeed in getting most of the people in the territory to accept that claim'.
For the political philosophers of 17th-18th centureis, the question of obligation to the state became a new and more complicated question:Is there any way in which I can submit to the commands of the state without giving up my freedom and autonomy? This question was most forcibly asked by Rousseau.
1.1 The Social Contract
A standard solution for the above mentioned problem was the device which was called the Social Contract. The idea of contract is taken from law. The heart of contract is what the lawyers call a quid pro quo or a "this for that". Each must benefit. Rousseau suggests the structure of society like a family and the ruler like a father. Hence social contract is a voluntary, unanimously reached agreement among all the people of a society to form themselves into a united political community and to obey the laws laid down by the government they collectively select. In simple words the law-maker and law-obeyers are one.
1.2 The General Will
A term invented by Jean Jacques Rousseau to describe the decision by the citizens of a republic to set aside their private and partisan concerns and instead collectively aim at the general good. Rousseau was very pessimistic about its possib ility.
2. On Education
Rousseau in his work "Political Economy" says "the office of public education is the most important business of the state". Throughout Rousseau's educational programme the aim is to enable the child to wouk out or itself both its own capbilities and their limits. To form a citizen, he says, not the work of a day but must commence with children. Tution starts early with the direction of childs play into festivals that commemorate national integrity and identity. Children should be taught only by nationals, and they must learn national geography and history. Travel beyond the borders is restricted (discouraged). Cosmopolitanism resisted and distinctiveness re-inforced through the wearing of national costume.
He clearly distingushes between the training of male and female children. He can be defined a Chauvinist in this regard.. Women are considered as of least rational comprehensibility. He insists that women should be subject to social constraint and supervision from infancy.. They need to discipline the skill to attract men and other skills collectively called "coquetry".
3. Conclusion
Although Rousseau's political theories have dominated liberal political theory since the seventeenth century, it has been subjected to a number of powerful criticisms. The most obvious objection is that save for the special case of the United States, no actual state has ever been brought into existence by such an explicit contractual agreement among the citizens-to-be. It's fine as a ideal but may ressemble an Utopian concept in practical realms.
The concept and the writings on education may infuriate the feminist,so a debate on that would be futile.
When we relate the patriotic aspects with concept of 'general will', we can easily find a solution to the upsurging problems of social corruption.Terrorism which has become the catch word of the last few decades has a mild treatment in Rousseau. The good of the majority must be taken care in a political mileau, if we go for the Concept of Society as a family then it would be a liberal kind of solution for the various encroaches in to the human freedom caused by the evil of terrorism the elaboration of this would run into a discussion ,but I think it indeed has something ,a combing up of the concept of society in it to offer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RILEY, Patrick, "The Cambridge Companion to Rousseau", Cambridge :Cambridge University Press, 2001.
WOLF, Robert Paul, "About Philosophy (7thed)" , New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.
