Roussea's "The Social Contract"
Rousseau's, "The Social Contract", published in 1762 after the success of his of several of his previous works, became one of the most influential pieces of abstract political thought in Western tradition. Many historians have in fact argued that Rousseau's abstract theories on the social contract, that lie at the basis of his treatise, were a direct cause for the French and American Revolutions. Rousseau's "Social Contract", directly criticizes and undermines the status quo of the old regime. Rousseau criticized the flaws in the existing regime, analyzing and undermining almost all aspects of the old regime, including the role of the monarchy and the aristocracy, the under appreciated role of the general population and the role of the church and religion as a whole and its position in society.In "The Social Contract", Rousseau explains that the human invention of government as a kind of contract between the governed and the authorities that govern them. Rousseau contests that humans are born completely self-sufficient and self-governing; whereas social human beings are dependant and constrained. The rights and liberties that social human beings get are derived ultimately from a general social agreement. He theorizes that the
He argued that you should banish aliens to the state religion and punish dissenters with death. He also analyzed and dismissed the separation of church and state as fundamentally bad for a society, another element of the regime, as the French Catholics had to answer to both Louis and the Pope. He did not believe, however that you could reform the defects within conventional, institutional religion. By deliberately and specifically attacking the different types of religion in Europe at the time, Rousseau not only demoralizes the church but also in so doing undermines the power position of the king as monarch. limited to the purely internal cult of the supreme God and to the eternal duty of morality. He furthers this argument by adding that it would be very unlikely for every man to be concerned with heavenly things, predicting that "a single ambitious man, a single hypocrite. Rousseau holds that this type of religion is bad for the state , as Christianity is other worldly, and as such takes away from citizens love for the state, as it takes away from their love of life on earth, "Christianity is a wholely spiritual religion, concerned solely with the things of heaven; the Christians homeland is not of this world. As for those who publicly accepted and stated their belief in the dogmas, and then behaves as if he does not, deserves the death penalty, as they lied in the presence of the laws. The required dogmas would be the existence of a powerful and intelligent divinity that, with foreknowledge of all, provides for all, including the happy rewards for the just, the punishment of the wicked and the sanctity of the social contract and the laws. Although Rousseau agued the need for religion, he did not support the religion of the day. Rousseau's example of this religion was Catholicism, as Roman Catholics are subject to the law of the church as well as the law of the state. Many historians have in fact argued that Rousseau's dedication to the idea of the general will indicates that his state is as a form of secularized Christianity.
Common topics in this essay:
Roman Catholics,
Social Contract,
Contract Rousseau,
Catholic Church,
Christianity Rousseau,
Catholicism Rousseau,
Church Rousseau,
Europe Rousseau,
social contract,
Christianity Catholicism,
civil religion,
Pope Rousseau,
type religion,
dogmas religion,
chapter 8,
contract chapter,
catholic church,
status quo regime,
regime french,
social human,
french regime,
undermines status quo,
chapter 8 religion,
dogmas civil religion,
civil religion motivates,
|
Acceptance Essays
