Further from my last entry I have conducted some further research into Rousseau.

Theory of Natural Man

''The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody''

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1754

This is an interesting quote, about people being naive. Rousseau looked to a hypothetical State of Nature as a normative guide. Rousseau deplores Hobbes for asserting that since man in the "state of nature . . . has no idea of goodness he must be naturally wicked; that he is vicious because he does not know virtue".

Rousseau never suggests that humans in the state of nature act morally, in fact, terms such as "justice" or "wickedness" cant be applied to pre-political society as Rousseau understands it. Morality proper, eg, self restraint, can only develop through careful education in a civil state. Humans "in a state of Nature" may act with all of the ferocity of an animal. They are good only in a negative sense, in so far as they are self-sufficient and therefore not subject to the vices of political society.

Rousseau argues that sovereignity (or the power to make the laws) should be in the hands of the people, he also makes a distinction between the sovereign and the government. The government is composed of magistrates, who enforce the general laws and make sure that they are obided. The "sovereign" is the rule of law, ideally decided on by direct democracy in an assembly (or government). Under a monarchy, however, the real sovereign is still the law. Rousseau was opposed to the idea that the people should exercise sovereignty via a representative assembly.

I think this is interesting, and i think on the whole i have to agree with rousseau. I think that some things should be in the hands of the people. Although in this day and age there would be no way to influence people enough. This is for many reasons. One of which will be that there are so many cultures and religions present in our society, that there is no way that everyone will obide to the laws of one government.

A lot of this goes over my head but from reading about these different philosophers i am beginning to grasp an understanding of what they are about and what they believed in, and now know a lot more about politics and the way in which it has evolved.

Jo Foxon

I have been writing an assignment about Rousseau and Hobbes and have been thinking about their philosophys. They both have very good arguments as to why we should 'obey the state'. I think it is important to obey rules, or obey the sovereign because without it the world would be chaos. There are so many nasty evil people out there who, if left without a ruler would make the state a dishonest and chaotic place to be. I think that is important in these times where, thieveing and rape are rife that there is some sort of pressure applied from the law to prevent this kind of thing happening.

''No more laws! No more judges! Liberty, equality, and practical human sympathy are the only effective barriers we can oppose to the anti-social instincts of certain among us''

(Peter Kropotkin, Law and authority (1886) repr. in The Anarchist Reader, 117)

This quote has left me wondering if the restriction of what people can do is what makes people rebel to do things. Is the fact that you can't steal enough to make someone steal?! And if stealing was allowed would it be a thing of the past?!

Hobbes believed that the fundamental law of nature was to seek peace , if others are doing so, but otherwise to use the advantages of war. This and Hobbes' other 18 laws, were said to be the 'theorems of reason'. This has led me to think that the idea of seeking peace may be something that we as humans can learn from.

Over and out

Jo Foxon