After the lecture!!

During the lecture I picked up on some parts that I had missed or taken a different view maybe.

The most interesting part I feel that I hadn't concentrated on was the idea about self-esteem. It is something that the more I think about, the more it makes sense! Rousseau had said that self- esteem is the cause of inequality in men. The concept in its raw state can not be responsible as it is simply a feeling or state of mind, yet it can differentiate a group of people from another very obviously. If a group has low self-esteem they become subservient to the more confident, therefore giving them more power for no reason other than their own self-doubts. In addition if a group have more self belief they will be more willing to take on responsibilities which give them power in any case.
But, where it was said the progress of civilisation makes for miseries, I think it has also made for many advances which bring happiness to many! The formation of organisation such as charities or even things taken for grantadge sometimes, the NHS for example, are very civilised concepts which help and can bring happiness and relief to many.

I find the idea of General Will intriguing. If there is an idea or thought shared by all, it becomes the law. This should mean that as it is agreed wrong or foul practice by the population it should not happen, and if ti should then nobody should be disagreeing in the punishment of it!

The comparisons to Hobbes and Locke I also found useful to look at. Hobbes' thought that passions will equal a mess of a society. he though that a leader must be elected but he did not discus God in the choosing of the leader. The people must elect their own leader. Locke believed the only reason we would need a leader would be to protect people. Problems will happen and the leader will be responsible for making sure that public will be defended. He had an idea that we are rational, our brain is from God and we will discover natural rights and ways of behaving.

Rousseau's ideas that we are born free then society distorted us. although the society which was responsible for this was a necessary evil, and it was in search of a return to passion.