Jean-Jacques Rousseau

On the Social Contract & Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

"Why, and Whom, Should I Obey?"

Reading/Discussion Schedule

October 14 - On the Social Contract, pp. 139 - 195

October 18 - On the Social Contract, pp. 195 - 227

October 25 - Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

October 14

1. Why is man in chains?
2. Where do you see Plato's fingerprints in Rousseau's writing?
3. Construct an example of a law and one of a decree. Similarly, construct a good law and a bad one.
4. Where does Rousseau's statement:  "It is better to have liberty fraught with danger than servitude in peace." apply? 

October 18

Bring Locke's Second Treatise of Government to class.

1. Where do Locke & Rousseau fundamentally disagree?
2. Is Rousseau in favor of the U.S. Congress?
3. What is Rousseau's view of each of the following: censorship, abortion, capital punishment, same sex marriage?
4. In what way does the internet form a body politic?
5. How does Rousseau reconcile separation of church and state?

1.  How do Rousseau and Locke differ on the notion of property?

2.  Create a rank-ordered^* list of human inequalities and bring it to class. Be prepared to defend your list with Rousseau's own words.
(* i.e. a list with the greatest inequality listed first, the next greatest second, etc.)

3.  What aspect of human civilization is the greatest corruptor of the natural human condition?

Write a two page essay on:

Why, and Whom, Should I Obey?

Write a one or two pages explanation/critique of one of the following statements. Use the quote to address a real problem. Be provocative and creative!

"Man's first language, the most universal, the most energetic and the only language he needed before it was necessary to persuade men assembled together, is the cry of nature." (49)

"Such, in fact, is the true cause of all these differences; the savage lives in himself; the man accustomed to the ways of society is always outside himself and knows how to live only in the opinion of others." (80-81)