Rousseau’s faulty critique of Hobbes’ natural man
In the Second Discourse, Rousseau founds many of his arguments in opposition to Hobbes’ arguments about the state of nature. However, both of their concepts on the state of nature are based on completely different grounds. Rousseau also has a … Continue reading →
How passion and reason differentiate man from animal
There is distinction between man and animal to justify man’s possession and use of the Earth’s resources explaining why humans have certain unique capabilities such as reason and language. The way Rousseau defines it is that because of this man … Continue reading →
Looking at Rousseau’s Style
I’ll be honest — I don’t really know what to write about Rousseau. After hours of staring at a blank computer screen and flipping through A Discourse on Inequality, I still find myself banging my head against the wall. What … Continue reading →
The Machines and Monsters in Hobbes’ Leviathan & Rousseau’s A Discourse on Inequality
Rousseau describes the nascent man to be the most successful stage of human kind. He uses the metaphors of a machine and beast to define his ideal state of man. Similar to Hobbes’ Leviathan, who is both a machine and … Continue reading →
Calvin and Rousseau
In Rousseau’s dedication to Geneva, he describes the city of his birth as being the envy of the world in its equality and stability. Geneva’s virtues are numerous, including: its peaceful nature, the justness of its magistrates and the obedience of the people, as … Continue reading →
An Endless Cycle
In Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality, as men are born in a situation of inequality, they reinforce the extent of it by making rules and building society. Every step the society has improved means a further step of men’s degeneration. The … Continue reading →
Power & Rousseau: The looker, the gaze, and the human subject
“[S]ocial man lives always outside himself; he knows how to live only in the opinion of other, it is, so to speak, from their judgement alone that he derives the sense of his own existence” (Rousseau 136). It could be … Continue reading →
Rousseau’s Version of Happiness
So Rousseau says that the savage man is happier than the civilized man… Therefore, is it wrong for man to rely on tools and still retain the ability to carry out normal activities? (Activities include running long distances or using bare hands to break things apart). Many would argue that the savage man has only […]
Rousseau on Seeing and Knowing
-I had intended to post this before seminar today, but I haven’t blogged since my introduction so I’ll admit that I actually forgot how to post on my blog. I’ve figured it out now.- Seeing as our theme for the … Continue reading →
Alexander Supertramp and Rousseau
In the film Into The Wild, Christopher McCandles, adopts the name “Alex Supertramp” to fully reject the society he grew up in, as he literally goes “Into the Wild”. For those who haven’t watched the film or read the book, I highly recommend it; based on a true story, we follow Christopher’s journey to the […]