that he influenced, Rousseau sees humans’ environ-
ment as molding their character. He elevates the primi-
tive, tribal human (the “noble savage”) as more
decent, humane, and good than civilized, educated,
and MODERNhumanity. This begins the Romantic view
of the virtuous innocence of simple, natural, rural
peasants, children, women, and the simple minded:
they are sweet and tender, while rational, economic,
developed people are corrupt, cruel, and mean. This
blaming of evil on social circumstances (as in later
MARXISM) rather than innate human sin (as in CHRISTI-
ANITY—St. AUGUSTINE or John CALVIN) leads to
Rousseau’s prescription for abolishing evil through
social and political reform. Politics can establish
morality.
The political system needed to reform society and
human beings is based on a REPUBLICANmodel of popu-
lar SOVEREIGNTY. Only “the people” generally can form
just laws for the common good (contrary to St.
Thomas AQUINAS). Rousseau’s version of the SOCIAL
CONTRACTdiffers widely from that of Thomas HOBBESor
John Locke. He claims that every citizen must partici-
pate in governance and each must give up his or her
RIGHTSto the whole community. Because individuals
have the social community within them, obeying the
STATE is really following one’s own interest. In his
famous remark, Rousseau asserts that “Liberty is obe-
dience to laws one has prescribed to oneself.” This
forms Rousseau’s ideal of law as the GENERAL WILLor
common good. Through discussion, each individual
(or group’s) selfish particular will drop away and is
subsumed with the shared common or general will of
the whole community. Consensus and absolute one-
ness, or unity of thought, can be achieved in the virtu-
ous republic. This assertion of social unity is disputed
by the British liberalism of Hobbes, Locke, and J. S.
MILL(who conceive of the private person as inviolable)
by Christianity (except in the spiritual unity of the
church), and Marxism (until pure communism). The
assertion of a possibility of such social uniformity is
blamed for TOTALITARIANISM(such as the SOVIET UNION)
and fascism (as NAZIGermany). Once the general will
is proclaimed by the community, any civil disobedi-
ence to it is considered treason, and the dissenter can
justly be executed, for Rousseau. Such a justification
for harsh penalties for disagreeing with the state led to
the brutality of the mass executions during the French
Revolution.
This ABSOLUTISTstate premised on community unity
has a civil religion to sustain it, in Rousseau’s political
theory. This civil religion reinforces the values and
sanctity of the state; it teaches the virtues of social
cooperation, PATRIOTISM, and sacrifice. The state be-
comes God. Rejecting traditional Christianity, Rous-
seau’s government religion teaches that good CITIZENs
go to heaven and bad citizens go to hell, that the social
contract and the state are holy, and that all religions
are tolerated that accept this dogma. This would
exclude Judaism, Christianity, and ISLAM.
Rousseau’s ideas of human EQUALITY, democracy,
and FREEDOM greatly influenced Modern republican
governments. Using the language of LIBERTY,RIGHTS,
and morality, he infused it with very different meaning
than either British-American liberalism (Locke, Jeffer-
son, Madison) or Western Christianity (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Martin LUTHER).
Rousseau lived a contentious and confused exis-
tence. Extolling domestic virtue, he nevertheless kept
a mistress and put their 10 children into orphanages.
Idolizing community and friendship, he remained
alienated from most society and quarreled with many
of his friends. Near the end of his life Rousseau suf-
fered from paranoia and madness. He seemed to be
tormented by demons and died lonely and insane.
His major books include Discourses on the Arts and
Sciencesand On the Origin of Inequality, The Social Con-
tract, Emile,and Confessions.Further Readings
Cranston, M. Jean-Jacques: the Early Life and Work of Jean-
Jacques Rousseau, 1712–1754.New York: Norton, 1983.
Gilden, H. Rousseau’s Social Contract: The Design of the Argu-
ment.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.rule of law
A prominent concept in Western political thought, the
rule of law implies government by written rules and
statutes rather than the arbitrary or ABSOLUTIST“rule of
man.” ARISTOTLE argues that laws are written when
people are most rational (in assemblies or legislatures)
and so provide wiser governance than the direct rule
of people who are susceptible to irrational passions,
emotions, and demagoguery. This contrasts with
PLATO’s Republic,which relied on the character and
VIRTUEof rulers (though he later modified this in his
book The Laws). The Roman statesman CICEROmain-
tained that all the reason and wisdom of the philoso-
phers was encoded in ROMAN LAW. This enabled the
Roman Empire to expand across the globe, rulingrule of law 265