Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Philosophy

Professor Charles Anderson discusses the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This comes from a course on Political, Economic, & Social Thought at the University of Wisconsin many years ago.

#Philosophy #Rousseau #PoliticalPhilosophy

[johnnydtheprodigy]

I just came across this today. I listened to the John Locke one, and then this one. These are brilliant lectures. Thankyou for making them, and for posting them.

[ziyourenquan]

I'm so happy to have found your video, of which long time ago I did the translation into Chinese. I have also uploaded about 2 or 3 years ago on to my YouTube channel (without audio). Actually, I've lost the original recording. While you have it now, I was wondering if it is possible for me to re-use it so that I can put Chinese subtitles.

[weoz]

In this video the idea of the General Will confused me at first but now I realize that’s it’s different because with majority rule it’s often “side A vs side B” and it becomes both sides fighting for the majority, with the General Will it’s everyone working together and the majority opinion takes form in a kind of natural spiritual way

[RobinoviHudovi]

Do you have any more lectures by professor Charles Anderson?

[holgerhn]

a grand tour, taken thru political theory. Very good stuff!

[ianmckee_]

How can a Nation as large as the United States function under Rousseau's government? This only works as a small regional government and one that is ethnically homogeneous.

[haralva]

Anderson's lectures are great! Have you got the rest of this cycle? (I've heard the one on Mill )

[alwaysgreatusa]

Plato opened the door, and Diogenes walked-in, promptly stomping his dirty-feet back-and-forth upon Plato's rug. "Thus I stomp upon the pride of Plato !", Diogenes contemptuously declared looking defiantly into the surprised eyes of Plato. "Ah, yes, but with what greater pride do you do so, Diogenes.", Plato flatly replied.
Vanity, Rousseau ? Yes, indeed.

[dambar]

We know what the general will means from the historical record. It is whatever Robespierre believed it to be no one but no one disagreed ... until they did.

[africandawahrevival]

After studying modern epistemology, you will see that Hobbes was probably right 😆, the three of them are like different epistemological positions taken by scholars today, this Rousseau general will discussion sounds like Putnam, anyway I have this funny quote from Pascal,

"If they [Plato and Aristotle] wrote about politics it was as if to lay down rules for a madhouse. And if they pretended to treat it as something really important it was because they knew that the madmen they were talking to believed themselves to be kings and emperors."

[Rj-clzw]

1:12:31 however if you include the need to for some to be forced into freedom and to consider other’s freedoms, than democracy of a nation-state makes since; however the perfect form of that nation-state has not existed and perhaps is impossible to exist because they will never fully know what would best support the need for liberty for the sake of those most in need. You could say though in theory, a larger nation-state, or even a world-state where the representatives do not serve their own interests, but rather solely the needs of the the people most in need.

[owlnyc]

The general will is the consensus of people who use reason?

[jrb]

Why are the students constantly coughing?

[resiliencewithin]

If it is always about strength.. Then peace according to this theory, must be impossible

[vincenzojh]

Only in the absence of contemplative, individual, instinct-driven thought does the volonté générale include giving its very understanding to the sophistry of academia. 😢

[LeSpeederus]

To think that the same man publicly exposed his butt in hopes of a spanking in his younger years

[alwaysgreatusa]

Work ourselves to death ? Try being a serf in the Middle Ages, or a slave before the Civil War. Nor should we imagine the life of the nomad, the hunter-gatherer, or the pre-industrial farmer was any picnic. Farming in the time before the industrial revolution was a labor-intensive and precarious way to make a living, meanwhile having to travel far and wide in search of food, track down your prey, and then kill it, prepare it, and cook it was no easy task for early man, . Oh, we think we have it so hard ! Actually, we don't have a clue what hard really means -- and neither did Rousseau, who apparently wished the state to house and feed him for the rest of his life, while providing him with a library and garden in which he could relax and repose. State of nature ? I think not. Rousseau, my friend, in the state of nature, you wouldn't last a day. There are no gardens and there are no books, there are only the life-threatening elements and the starving-hungry animals looking for their next kill -- and, you my friend, are on the menu.

[owlnyc]

He has a Mona Lisa smile in this picture. A product of the Enlightenment and a critic of the Enlighment. Romanticism faith intinct vs Faith in Reason. Pathos vs Logos. Rural vs Urban. Small town Geneva vs big city Paris. Primitive Savagy vs Civilized Savagery. Brazilian Cannibalism vs Industrial Cannibalism. The good old days of Hunter Gathers. Before metallurgy and the deplorable agricultural which led excess wealth, which led to private property, which led to governments, which led to laws to protect private propert, which led to master-slavery. Rights Of Man, yes, Rights of Women, not so much. Ever one is a slave. Even the slave master. Govt must not be of the strongest but the most cooperative?

[alwaysgreatusa]

Unfortunately, it is not 'clear, rational analysis' -- French or otherwise --- once you bring into the picture romanticized views of the state of nature. It is at best, a clear case of fiction that arbitrarily employs reason only to make its fictional account appear to be more plausible than it otherwise would. Now, I am not saying there is no value nor any truth in the writings of Rousseau, for there is almost always some value and even some truth in every great work of fiction -- e.g. Plato's dialogues.

[dambar]

The General Will has no place for opposition but opposition is essential to good decision making because humans are far better at spotting error in others than themselves. The examples you give are echo chambers. You don't have to look to France 1793-4 to see it being harmful.