Rousseau Explorations

1. Rousseau boldly contradicts philosophers such as Grotius, Hobbes, and Aristotle. What is the nature of his disagreement with them?
2. How does Rousseau understand the relationship between force and morality—that is, what is “right”? Do you agree with his perspective? Why/why not?
3. Rousseau summarizes the theory of the social contract as follows: “Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.” Describe the ways in which contemporary American society both agrees with and contradicts this model.
4. How does Rousseau simultaneously rely on and elaborate upon Locke’s theories in The Second Treatise of Government?