Philosophers
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Genevan philosopher (1712 to 1778) whose The Social Contract (Du Contrat Social, 1762) reconceives political legitimacy as arising from the general will of a self-governing people rather than from any prior natural right or divine sanction. His Discourse on Inequality (1755) traces the origins of social inequality to property, making him a formative and deeply contested figure for the French Revolution; Edmund Burke wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France largely against the political consequences drawn from Rousseau's thought.
Facts
Notable PublicationThe Social Contract (1762) 1 TraditionSocial contract theory; forerunner of Romanticism 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Critiqued Here
Edmund Burke, Philosophers Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) argues largely against the Rousseauian doctrine that legitimate political order can be built from abstract reason and a general will, rather than from inherited custom and prescription.
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Sources
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informationentry: Jean-Jacques RousseauQuote, entry: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The concern that dominates Rousseau’s work is to find a way of preserving human freedom in a world where people are increasingly dependent on one another to satisfy their needs.
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and InformationIn Category: PhilosophersView the Source 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and InformationIn Branch: Political PhilosophyView the Source 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and InformationAssociated With: Edmund Burke, entry: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, InfluenceView the Source 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and InformationAssociated With: Political Philosophy, entry: Rousseau's Political PhilosophyView the Source 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and InformationAssociated With: Social Contract Theory, entry: Rousseau's Political PhilosophyView the Source 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and InformationAssociated With: Philosophy of Education, entry: Philosophy of EducationQuote, Associated With: Philosophy of Education, entry: Philosophy of Education
A notable feature of non-instrumentally justified formative education is that it seems to escape the dilemma, aptly framed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762), of how it can be equally for the individual student and for the society.
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