Cc Exam Study Guide
Contemporary Civilizations
Semester Long Review Sheet
Rousseau:
Discourse on Inequality:
-Rousseau changes the question to : how can one know inequality without knowing man? -we must not consider man as he is now, deformed by society, but as he was in nature. -Progress drives man as a species further from its original condition in the state of nature. As knowledge increases, so our ignorance of the true nature of man increases
-Rousseau next claims that he perceives two basic principles that exist "prior to reason"—that is, before man is deformed by society and rationality. -self-preservation -pity. -From these principles, which do not require sociability, natural right flows. Man's duties are not dictated to him by reason alone, but by self-preservation and pity. -Therefore a man will not harm another sentient (pain-feeling) being unless his own self- preservation is at stake. -The duty not to harm others is based not on rationality but on sentience, the state of being able to feel. - According to Rousseau, this solves the age-old question of whether animals participate in natural law. -As they are not rational, he says, animals cannot have any part in a natural law, but as sentient beings they take part in natural right, that is, they feel and are the subjects of pity. This gives animals at least the right not to be mistreated by man. -Rousseau argues not that animals have all the rights that humans do, but only that to harm another sentient creature is universally wrong.
-Main Point: natural rights and laws mean nothing if we do not understand the nature of man. -There must be a correlation between the two for natural laws to mean anything. -Therefore, to understand what this nature is, we have to take reason out of the equation entirely, as man in his original condition may not have been a rational creature.
There are two types of inequality: natural (or physical) and moral. -Natural
Semester Long Review Sheet
Rousseau:
Discourse on Inequality:
-Rousseau changes the question to : how can one know inequality without knowing man? -we must not consider man as he is now, deformed by society, but as he was in nature. -Progress drives man as a species further from its original condition in the state of nature. As knowledge increases, so our ignorance of the true nature of man increases
-Rousseau next claims that he perceives two basic principles that exist "prior to reason"—that is, before man is deformed by society and rationality. -self-preservation -pity. -From these principles, which do not require sociability, natural right flows. Man's duties are not dictated to him by reason alone, but by self-preservation and pity. -Therefore a man will not harm another sentient (pain-feeling) being unless his own self- preservation is at stake. -The duty not to harm others is based not on rationality but on sentience, the state of being able to feel. - According to Rousseau, this solves the age-old question of whether animals participate in natural law. -As they are not rational, he says, animals cannot have any part in a natural law, but as sentient beings they take part in natural right, that is, they feel and are the subjects of pity. This gives animals at least the right not to be mistreated by man. -Rousseau argues not that animals have all the rights that humans do, but only that to harm another sentient creature is universally wrong.
-Main Point: natural rights and laws mean nothing if we do not understand the nature of man. -There must be a correlation between the two for natural laws to mean anything. -Therefore, to understand what this nature is, we have to take reason out of the equation entirely, as man in his original condition may not have been a rational creature.
There are two types of inequality: natural (or physical) and moral. -Natural