Home > A103 Introduction to Humanities
Question: A) Discuss the relationship between individual freedom and social responsibility as represented in The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
B) How far is it appropriate to bear the same concepts in mind when considering Jacques-Louis David’s Brutus and Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog?
Answer: The Social Contract was at its time and still remains an extremely controversial text, as were most of Rousseau’s writings. Primarily he discusses the inadequacy of our leadership and attempts to provide a solution as to free man from the “chains” society has given him.
The relationship between individual freedom and social responsibility as presented by Rousseau, is that we will obtain our freedom by acting on our social responsibility. He argues that by adopting the Social Contract we will achieve liberty and equality. However, there are huge impracticalities to his suggestions. Rousseau’s argument is vulnerable in many parts, the Social Contract implies in the term ‘general will’ that there is one common interest to all persons involved but of course this is foolishly idealistic and the best that could be achieved would be a majority rule, which he later admits. So in ...(short extract)
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- Subject: Philosophy
- Course: A103
- Level: Degree
- Year: 1st
- Mark: 82%
- Words: 1049
- Date submitted: January 13, 2009
- Date written: August, 2004
- References: No
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 105
