Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Society

Jean-Jacques Rousseau had some odd ideas about human nature along with society and its social structures. I found of quote of him saying “The first man who had fenced in a piece of land, said “This is mine,” and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes…” (Wiki). He clams that mans problems are rooted in the hierarchies that rule over us and that without them we would live in harmony. Basically Rousseau believes it is our assessment that something is our and ours alone that causes our eternal strife.

Rousseau ideas on society make me think of two somewhat opposing sociologist Weber and Marx. Weber because Rousseau talks about the supposed need for authority like Weber’s rational authority, which comes from governments in order to maintain order. Marx felt that conflict is created by those with the means imposing their will on those without means like when Rousseau used the example of the first man to build a fence. One thing that did bother me about Rousseau is that although he proposes the elimination of government he does not give historical or empirical evidence of his reasons. Rousseau suggests causality between means and death/suffering but not with government from what I could tell.

This may be a bit of a stretch but I would speculate the Rousseau early life involvement with the church could have help to create the idea of no government, the Garden of Eden and the request for a king over God’s people. Overall I feel that Rousseau writings give an interesting perspective on how giving/sharing we should be with one another.

REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau