I found the morals!

I found the morals!
"Morality began to be introduced into human actions..." (Rousseau 115)

Not that I wanted to focus on them in this post, but I find that Rousseau speaks more of morals than Hobbes did in Leviathan…

What most interested me in Rousseau was the concept of dependence. Rousseau treats dependence as an origin of inequality. Interesting things Rousseau says about dependence:

·         Makes people weak – lose ability to defend oneself

·         Leads to creation of family groups which become like little states (we all know how that turns out…)

·         Leads to inequality as man begins to measure himself against others rather than himself

·         Leads to unhappiness in the same manner

·         Led to slavery

Since a child depends on his/her mother from birth, what does Rousseau then think of children?

Is there any sort of dependence which doesn’t lead to negative results, which Rousseau has overlooked?

To what extent is Rousseau’s view of dependence similar or different from Kant’s view of dependence?

The other thing I wish to speak of is Rousseau’s treatment of women. Although he speaks mostly of men, there are a few lines which indicate the respect he has for women, which is far different from Hobbes: “Lovable and virtuous women of Geneva – the destiny of your sex will always be to govern ours…It was this that women commanded at Sparta, and thus you deserve to command in Geneva.” (Rousseau 67)

Is Rousseau’s view of women consistent throughout his discourse?

How does the idea of women governing over men fit into Rousseau’s ideas on dependence?

The final thing I wish to note is a certain line on page 128 – near the end of Rousseau’s discourse: “The jurists who have solemnly affirmed that the child of a slave will be born a slave have decided, in other words, that a man will not be born a man.” (Rousseau 128)

This idea corresponds with my post on identity from a while back – this statement being about the extent to which family lines determine identity.  The judge in the statement is of the mind that family determines identity to a great extent, but Rousseau seems to disagree – to have family be the sole determinant of identity and position is to dehumanize man. Interesting!