Rousseau Origin Of Civil Society Essay

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Today, various forms of government exist across the world as remnants and variations of the original ideals developed years ago by historic philosophers like John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and James Harrington. Philosophers have played a substantial role in the development of law and government over the course of history in roughly every civilization and they basically served as innovators in the field of moral principles, ethics, and human rights. One of the larger political innovations of the past that heavily affects the America 's today was based upon original ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau, a famous French politic and philosopher of the 1700s during the French Revolution, was an individual who believed in the development of a government …show more content…
Rousseau stood firm in his belief of what the right form of government would look like or at least appear to be, but also argues that people are surrendering rights and freedom to themselves while establishing a civil society. In the reading A World of Ideas; Jean-Jacques Rousseau “The Origin of Civil Society” by Lee Jacobus, they briefly describe what kind of arguments and challenges he had faced from opposing famous philosophers ' beliefs. Some of which including those who played a role in aiding the development of the type of government seen in America today. In the book Jacobus …show more content…
The people understood that they are the power and centerpiece holding everything together. He also truly enjoyed how the people would come together as a whole to discuss the issues face to face that were happening on all levels from the government to the people. Hobbes was quite the opposite of this however which led Rousseau to maintain such a firm stance with him as well as Grotius. Rousseau’s legacy is based mainly on two concepts found in his work with the idea of the Social Contract Theory. However, the purpose of Rousseau 's philosophy and his approved government is essentially the idea that if all problems are met with the unity of the people and dealt with accordingly using his Social Contract Theory. The Social Contract Theory was a moral and political perspective that each individuals has obligations to own up to within their society. This meant that those obligations could mean anything from meeting up to resolve issues with other members of the society to how much a power a state could actually have over any one particular individual. It also that identified the proper course of action for a variety of different scenarios as well as governing rules and what are essentially

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