1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Philosopher of the Day

2. Jean Jacques Rousseau French Philosopher
Born June 28, 1712 in Geneva Switzerland.
Left Geneva at 16 and settled in Paris in 1742 at the age of 30.

3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Gained his philosophies while traveling throughout Switzerland and France.
Society is unfair and artificially organized.
Philosophies influenced by oppressive monarchy in France.
Louis XV

4. The Social Contract States repress physical and civil freedom.
People are almost always in conflict with government.
Legitimate political authority comes only from a social contract agreed upon by all.

5. Rousseau’s View of Man “noble savage” Humans are corrupted by society.
“All men are born free but everywhere they are in shackles.”
Self-interest leads to injustice.

6. View of Government
Must enforce and respect the sovereign will of the people.
Must work to affirm the freedom of all its citizens.

7. Theories and Ideas
Good governments must protect the freedom of it’s citizens
Government is only legitimate if they have the consent of the people to rule.

8. Influence in America Rousseau’s ideas influenced the United States
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of America.”
Social pact consistent with the philosophies of Rousseau.

9. “No man has any natural authority over his fellow man”

10. “Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered once it is lost.”

11. “Force does not constitute right… obedience is due only to legitimate powers.”

12. “We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man’s estate, is the gift of education.

13. “You forget that the fruits belong to all and that the land belongs to none.”

14. “Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.”

15. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
French Philosopher
Wrote The Social Contract.
Viewed man as “noble savages.”
Government’s role was to enforce and respect the sovereign will of the people.
Idea of a social contract between rulers and the ruled.