Rousseau's philosophical contributions and influence

Rousseau: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

This is a paper that argues and proves how Rousseau would have reacted to the Declaration of Rights in the light of the French Revolutionaries. It has 3 sources.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen produced by the French Revolutionaries is considered as one of the founding documents of the human rights tradition. This paper argues that the document accurately represents Rousseau concept of the "Social Contract" and that it had a foremost influence on the intellectual development of the French Revolution. The paper concludes that Rousseau would have agreed to most of the "Articles" in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, as it ensures both liberty and equality among men, two of the most fundamental concept in Rousseau's political philosophy.

Discussion

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the prolific western thinkers who believed that human beings are inherently good and are capable of achieving the highest good. According to Rousseau man in his primitive age was innocent but he was made cruel, selfish and hedonist by the social structures. He believed that society's attempt to become civilized has actually made them worse in terms of injustice. He further argued that governments have become so strong and powerful that they have crushed individual liberty [Rousseau, 207-238]. He concluded that governments have not only crushed individual liberty but the unequal distribution of wealth among the population has also undermined sincere friendship between the people and the government. To resolve this problem Rousseau suggests through his the Social Contract that society should exist in harmony with everyone and individual freedom should be encouraged.

In his masterpiece "The Social Contract" Rousseau proposes solutions of the problems he diagnosed in his "Origins of Civil Society" and "Discourse on Inequality." With the famous phrase "man is born free, but he is everyone in chains," Rousseau states that the modern nations in which royal entities repress the freedom of the ordinary people are in actuality suppressing their natural rights and thus forsake their civil rights. According to Rousseau the only solution to the problems is to form a social contract, which is agreed upon by all the members of the society, whether rich or poor. Rousseau calls this collective grouping or the contract the "sovereign" and says that it is in many ways like a general will [Rousseau, 207-238]. This contract between the authorities and the governed is based on one basic principle and that is, the people agree to be ruled only so that their rights, property and happiness are protected by the government. If the rulers for some reason cease to fulfill their social contract agreement then the people can exert their rights and choose a different ruler. Thus for Rousseau the fundamental function of the government is to protect their rights, the right of life, liberty and happiness. Other than that the government has no real function.

Rather than protecting the rights of the privilege and wealthy few, Rousseau says that a government should be based on the rights and equality of everyone. This political philosophy and concept of social contract greatly influenced the French Revolutionist and the concept of human nature and his insistence on the limited role of the government inspired the French Revolutionaries in drafting out the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" passed on August 26, 1789 gave to the world the ideals and principles of the French Revolution in the form of a Declaration. The most fundamental concern of the Declaration was the liberty and rights of man, known as the natural and unalienable rights. The Declaration proposed to develop a society and a form of government which holds these two principles of liberty and natural rights the prior to everything and justified the destruction of a government which in any way obstructs these fundamental principles. The Declaration in its first 'Article' lays out its fundamental principle upon which all the other rests, "Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights"[Article 1 of Declaration]. It creates a bond between the people and the government, the responsibility of the government is to ensure that liberty and rights are protected and this is done implementing certain laws which protect the rights and liberty of people, nothing less and nothing more. "Law is the expression of the general will"[Article 6 of Declaration] every one has to abide the law and no one is above it.

Conclusion