Need help with my History question – I’m studying for my class.
1) Do you agree with Rousseau? Has civilization had an overall negative effect on morals and people?
2) Consider this quote by Rousseau
“The extreme inequality of our ways of life, the excess of idleness among some and the excess of toil among others, the ease of stimulating and gratifying our appetites and our senses, the over-elaborate foods of the rich, which inflame and overwhelm them with indigestion, the bad food of the poor, which they often go without altogether, so that they over-eat greedily when they have the opportunity; those late nights, excesses of all kinds, immoderate transports of every passion, fatigue, exhaustion of mind, the innumerable sorrows and anxieties that people in all classes suffer, and by which the human soul is constantly tormented: these are the fatal proofs that most of our ills are of our own making, and that we might have avoided nearly all of them if only we had adhered to the simple, unchanging and solitary way of life that nature ordained for us. ”
? Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Rousseau claimed that civilization itself creates inequality. As people became increasingly aware of status and property they begin to compete for wealth and power. In a state of nature there is perfect equality. Is economic inequality a sign of an unjust or unfair society? Why is economic inequality such a problem?
3) Rousseau’s Social Contract argues that power needs to justify itself. Social structures which inhibit human flourishing are illegitimate unless proven otherwise. Worded another way… the burden of proof for wielding power is on the bearer. (See Chomsky vid) Can you think of a center of power that is unjustified? How can we assess if a particular power structure is justified? (Ex. Police are justified because they protect us from bad people.)
4) Rousseau argues that the purpose of government is to ensure the General Will. Locke argued that we do it for protection of our rights. Hobbes argued that it was to provide safety and stability. In your own words what is the purpose of government?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsaIc4J4ThU<span class=”redactor-invisible-space” data-vehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsaIc4J4ThU<span class=”redactor-invisible-space”></span>rified=”redactor”></span>
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