An Overview of Rousseau's Beliefs
Julie E.
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Book I
Before being awoken to the concepts of greed and "passions" which we can regard as amoral by the existence of a political system, people were inherently good and acted in their own best interests with physical freedom- the freedom to do anything at any time. Having been awoken to the concepts of sel 
fishness and the other passions which come with a political system (such as the idea of property, which Rousseau states itself could not have singularly and immediately come into being, but must have been achieved by ancient man through some sequence of ideas) it is now impossible for people to return to the state of nature, that is physical freedom, because people would live with all the greed and selfishness bred into them by politics without any of the protection from harm offered by a government or collective existence wherein people would be responsible for their actions.
If nothing else Rousseau's work is meant to completely rewrite the social contract proposed by Hobbes. Rather than trading freedom for protection of a totalitarian or authoritarian Leviathan, Rousseau's citizen's trade the basic physical freedom for the freedom of self-control, morality, and to be part of the ruling body of a state- to essentially write the laws that they are to follow. Rousseau's Leviathan is the citizenry, rather than a singular individual.
Rousseau also believes that reluctant citizens should be forced to be free. To be free Rousseau says we need to enter into the social contract, which allows us to fully realize our freedom through self-control and morality; to not want to be a part of society (and the social contract) one violates the contract and detrimentally takes away their own personal freedom.
In Rousseau's democratic nation the state always comes first, and the individual second- quite the opposite of America.
Book II
Before being awoken to the concepts of greed and "passions" which we can regard as amoral by the existence of a political system, people were inherently good and acted in their own best interests with physical freedom- the freedom to do anything at any time. Having been awoken to the concepts of sel
If nothing else Rousseau's work is meant to completely rewrite the social contract proposed by Hobbes. Rather than trading freedom for protection of a totalitarian or authoritarian Leviathan, Rousseau's citizen's trade the basic physical freedom for the freedom of self-control, morality, and to be part of the ruling body of a state- to essentially write the laws that they are to follow. Rousseau's Leviathan is the citizenry, rather than a singular individual.
Rousseau also believes that reluctant citizens should be forced to be free. To be free Rousseau says we need to enter into the social contract, which allows us to fully realize our freedom through self-control and morality; to not want to be a part of society (and the social contract) one violates the contract and detrimentally takes away their own personal freedom.
In Rousseau's democratic nation the state always comes first, and the individual second- quite the opposite of America.
Book II