Jacques Derrida

In the comparison of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau and their respective ideas of The Social Contract I would like to begin by breaking down what the Social Contract is and all its encompassing ideas. The concept of social contract theory is that before civilization man lived in the state of nature in its purest form. There was no central body of governance and no law to regulate society. This meant there were hardships and oppression on certain sections of the society…

This paper seeks to investigate the complex ways the epistolary novel informs notions of the self, specifically in regard to Samuel Richardson’s Pamela. To do so, it is imperative to evaluate the forms’ impact on the story it tells. The notions of immediacy and intimacy inherent in the letter form are emphasized here. Locke’s theory of the blank self can be used to explain the creation of Pamela. Finally, Rousseau’s ideas about the creation of the self through reading explore the novel’s…

Upon recognizing how challenging it is to reconcile the tensions that arise in a modern liberal society as a result of cultural diversity, it becomes increasingly clear as to why Jean Jacques Rousseau conceptualized his ideal state as a homogenous one . That is not to say that cultural diversity is not valuable and should not be promoted, but rather that Rousseau, as many of us often are, was inclined to take the easy way out. Nevertheless, as zo0oz perceives, cultural diversity should be…

Enlightenment (1784). Furthermore, the 1789 Revolution supported philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideals of a state directed by the “general will” of its people. Rousseau’s archetypal form of government opposed the structure of the Ancien Régime. In fact, Kant and Rousseau’s notions were similar in that both viewed enlightenment to be impossible under the old regime. Both…

There were many enlightened philosophers who influenced the ideals and guidelines set up in the United States of America. One of these philosophers was Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose social contract theory still can be seen in the structure of our government today. By really breaking down Rousseau’s viewpoint into three different categories, we can begin to understand the reasoning behind his ideas. In this paper, I will be giving evidence to support the idea that Rousseau is a relationalist, a…

What Role Does Childhood Play in Education? As we continue exploring different aspects that make up the educational landscape, we have to inevitably focus on childhood as one of the main components. In fact, many philosophers see the child, not the teacher, as the central character and thus have extensively studied childhood as their main subject. This is the case of Rousseau who favored a child-centered education and of Kennedy who believed that the more we understand childhood the better…

The Organization of Society Machiavelli’s The Prince, a story is told, explaining multiple routes of portraying his definition of a “good” prince. He then divulges his beliefs of how one should never forget to prepare for or contemplate war, study history, remain armed at all times and be a “miser”. Rousseau’s The Origin of Civil Society, is based upon an entirely different morale which derives from reasoning and ethics. Machiavelli and Rousseau have entirely polar opposite views of power and…

Marcel Mauss’s essay titled “The Gift” published in 1925, focused on the way exchange of objects between groups, builds relationships between them. He argued that giving an object creates an inherent obligation on the receiver to reciprocate the gift, thus resulting in a series of exchanges between groups, therefore providing us with one of the earliest forms of social solidarity used by humans. Mauss describes Melanesian and Polynesian peoples, gift economy as one of material and moral life, it…

The Enlightenment was a secular take on an intellectual movement that related to politics, education, and society. The Enlightenment is best known for its philosophical and scientific ideas that point back to beliefs about society or politics. Individuals, especially philosophers, advocated their beliefs through works of literature and influenced this intellectual movement towards philosophy. Voltaire, a strong advocate in many areas, disclosed his criticisms of the world through his satire…

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are both political philosophers that have greatly influenced modern political thought. Both Hobbes and Locke reject the idea of a divine right, leading to both conveying their idea of a “social contract” an agreement between people and government, due to man living in “state of nature.” However, as both philosophers agreed on the existence of the state of “nature” the condition in which humanity resided before there was any form of civil society and a “social…