Western Civilization II / Unit 6 WC2 0515 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Rousseau: The General Will and the Contrarian Enlightenment
Captions available
The idea
Rousseau won an essay prize about seventeen fifty by attacking civilization as a corrupt facade, and made the general will the source of sovereignty, citizens devoted to it and to their morals. The witness: government's authority lies in the consent of the governed.
In practice
Sparta as his model, which the anchor calls inaccurate and anachronistic.
Where people slip
The Revolution's ideological basis, the anchor says.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it