Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an influential philosopher and writer during the enlightenment of the 18th century, explicitly expressed his view of slavery and alterity in two of his well-known works, The Social Contract and Discourse on Inequality. In The Social Contract, Rousseau supposes that man is born free, and no man should be able to rule over another , while simultaneously summarizing and refuting opposing claims made by relevant and significant philosophers before him.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28, 1712, the second child to his father, Isaac Rousseau, and his mother, Suzanne Bernard. His mother died only nine days after his birth, so he grew up primarily under the care of his father, a clockmaker, until the age of 10. Jean-Jacque and his father shared a love Greek and Roman literature, which they bonded over for the first many years of Rousseau’s life. However, by the time Jean-Jacques reached ten years of age, his father ran into trouble with a French captain, and promptly decided to flee Geneva, leaving him behind to be cared for by relatives. After being abandoned by his father, Rousseau went to live with a maternal uncle. This uncle looked after Jean-Jacques for only a couple years before sending him and a …show more content…
As man becomes sociable and slave to others, he becomes weak. With his depictions of both the savage man and the civil man, Rousseau makes it clear that neither one is necessarily greater than the other; each has its own set of flaws and faults, and they are more similar than some philosophers might believe. For example, man and beast both have and operate under instinct, but the man perceives his instinct as freedom. Instead, Rousseau posits that humankind would fare best operating under some middle ground between civil and
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28, 1712, the second child to his father, Isaac Rousseau, and his mother, Suzanne Bernard. His mother died only nine days after his birth, so he grew up primarily under the care of his father, a clockmaker, until the age of 10. Jean-Jacque and his father shared a love Greek and Roman literature, which they bonded over for the first many years of Rousseau’s life. However, by the time Jean-Jacques reached ten years of age, his father ran into trouble with a French captain, and promptly decided to flee Geneva, leaving him behind to be cared for by relatives. After being abandoned by his father, Rousseau went to live with a maternal uncle. This uncle looked after Jean-Jacques for only a couple years before sending him and a …show more content…
As man becomes sociable and slave to others, he becomes weak. With his depictions of both the savage man and the civil man, Rousseau makes it clear that neither one is necessarily greater than the other; each has its own set of flaws and faults, and they are more similar than some philosophers might believe. For example, man and beast both have and operate under instinct, but the man perceives his instinct as freedom. Instead, Rousseau posits that humankind would fare best operating under some middle ground between civil and