Q. ‘Rousseau kindled a hope which became the spirit of the Enlightenment’. Critically examine. [UPSC- 2022]

Ans:

Enlightenment was intellectual, philosophical, cultural and social movement. It spread throughout Europe (mainly Western Europe) during the 17th and 18th century. This period is called the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. It represented a huge departure from the Middle Ages of Europe. It sought to promote reason, liberty, equality, natural law, individualism, optimism for human progress, humanism, social reforms in the face of traditional authority and dogma.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) was one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe who shaped the ideas and ideals of the Enlightenment era.©selfstudyhistory.com

He kindled a hope which became the spirit of the Enlightenment:

• His political philosophy had influenced French Revolution and had the seeds of the development of many modern thoughts of the Enlightenment in fields of Arts, Science, equality, social contract, popular sovereignty, social reforms, romanticism etc.
• He devised a new system for musical composition, submitted articles to Diderot’s Encyclopedie, and composed essays on various topics. It was one of these essays, Discourse on the Arts and Sciences in 1750, which first earned him renown. He followed it up with his famous essay Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755).
• Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755):
  • In Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755), he showed how greed had corrupted man, how strong man had captured the land and property and have forced the week to obey them.
  • He says that there are two types of inequality:
    • Natural Inequality:
      • For example- some lazy, some are intelligent.
      • It can be tolerated as it is beyond control.
    • Conventional inequality:
      • Inequality created by society.
      • For example- privileged section of society has the right to get a job but weaker section does not. He said that this type of inequality must be removed.
• The novel Julie (1761) told the story of a forbidden love, while Emile (1762) provided a revolutionary dissertation on the proper way to rear and educate a child.
  • Rousseau’s emphasis on the importance of education and the cultivation of reason also contributed to the growth of the Enlightenment. His treatise “Emile” argued for a new approach to education, focusing on the development of an individual’s natural abilities and moral sensibilities rather than the mere acquisition of knowledge. This idea resonated with other Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Immanuel Kant, who similarly stressed the importance of reason and education in the pursuit of human progress.
• Rousseau was among first proponent of Romanticism:
  • Rousseau emphasised on natural order and the natural state of man, instead of distorted through the process of over-emphasising reason in guiding human behavior. His theory of ideas and romanticism reckons all to be born as good but distorted by reasons.
  • Rousseau said, “The Promptings of the Heart are more to be trusted than the Logic of the Mind”. Here he was reflecting his romanticism.
• The Social Contract (1762):
  • Rousseau’s best-known and most influential work was The Social Contract.
  • He proposed a radical solution to the problem of inequality by advocating for popular sovereignty and the establishment of a government based on the will of the people.
  • Rousseau begins The Social Contract with the famous words: “Men are born free, yet everywhere are in chains.”
    • From this opening, Rousseau goes on to describe the myriad ways in which the “chains” of civil society suppress the natural birthright of man to physical freedom.
    • Rousseau believed in the inherent goodness of human beings and the corrupting influence of society. He argued that in their natural state, humans were free, equal, and compassionate, but the establishment of societies led to inequality, competition, and selfishness.
  • For Rousseau, the only legitimate political authority is the authority consented to by all the people, who have agreed to such government by entering into a social contract for the sake of their mutual preservation.
    • Rousseau calls the collective grouping of all citizens the “sovereign,” and claims that it should be considered in many ways to be like an individual person.
    • While each individual has a particular will that aims for his own best interest, the sovereign expresses the general will that aims for the common good.
      • “General will” represents will of the people (group, community, society etc.) provided each in the group thinks and acts selflessly.
      • It represents genuine interest and common good of the collective body. It is important for everyone to follow it, because everyone’s interest lies in it.
    • Criticism of General Will:
      • Rousseau’s conception of General Will is very vague which makes it dangerous and vulnerable to misuse.
      • According to Rousseau, General will is different from the consensus of individual members of the society. This differentiation led to the conflict between the liberty of the individual and the institution of the government and was responsible for the charge that Rousseau’s philosophy contained the seeds of absolutism.
      • For example: Robespierre, who was Rousseau’s follower, spread of reign of terror during French Revolution, just to impose “general will”. He executed anyone who he considered not following general will.
• Rousseau’s ideas had a profound impact on the development of the Enlightenment. They contributed directly to the emergence of democratic ideals and the promotion of human rights. His notion of popular sovereignty laid the foundation for the concept of self-determination, which later played a significant role in the American and French revolutions. For instance, the famous phrase “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” which became the slogan of the French Revolution, was inspired by Rousseau’s philosophy.
• Some of his ideas were counter to the traditional ideas of the Enlightenment: 
  • Though many believed that Rousseau shared the basic beliefs of the Enlightenment, some of his thoughts did show his counter-Enlightenment ideas.
  • Rousseau exhibited the same distaste for reason, knowledge and individualism in general as he did for the sciences.
  • Rousseau’s romanticism stressed a return to life as it can be seen, felt, and experienced and thus encouraged a reliance on emotion, intuition, and instinct as opposed to reason in guiding human behavior.
  • Rousseau is considered as a counter-Enlightenment thinker representing Romantic revolt against the scientific and rational learning of Enlightenment.
    • In his first work A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, he makes point that science did not improve morality nor contribute a great deal to happiness and the progression of the sciences has caused the corruption of virtue and morality.
    • This was clearly against the Enlightenment idea which claimed that the progress in science contribute to the purification of morals and happiness.
  • In his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Rousseau started his attack at the foundation of the Enlightenment project: Reason.
    • The philosophes believed that reason is the foundation of civilization.
    • But to Rousseau, civilization’s rational progress is anything but progress, for civilization is achieved at the expense of morality. Human beings are basically good by nature, but were corrupted by the present day civil society.
    • He also argues for the importance of empathy rather than reason as the grounds of morality.
  • Rousseau’s arguments are not rooted in individualism but are instead rooted in the belief that the good of the all of mankind is superior to that of the individual.
  • Rousseau had fired the shot between the war between Enlightenment and its enemies and several historians like William R. Everdell situated Rousseau as the “founder of the Counter-Enlightenment”.

Though many of Rousseau’s thoughts seemed counter-Enlightenment, Rousseau’s ideas kindled hope which inspired and influenced future philosophers and revolutionaries and played a crucial role in shaping the spirit of the Enlightenment by challenging traditional authorities, liberty, and equality, emergence of democratic ideals, the advocacy of human rights, and the emphasis on education and reason as the driving forces of human progress. ©selfstudyhistory.com