Reference no: EM133795512
Assignment: Writing
Choose one of the following topics:
I. Can the legitimacy of government be established by consent? Discuss the role that consent plays in Locke's theory of both government and civil society. Does consent provide a clear conceptual foundation for democratic government for Locke, or is it more ambivalent standard than it appears at first? Do you agree with Locke's position (as you have presented it)? Why or why not? Be sure to include in your discussion the role of at least two of the following: tacit consent, property and/or the role of legislatures in representing popular will. Get the instant assignment help.
II. Can Rousseau's concept of the General Will address the problems of inequality that he lays out in The Second Discourse? That is to say, if the Second Discourse charts the corruption of mankind as it becomes more civilized, does the political theory of The Social Contract convincingly answer the question of how such corruption can be counter-balanced by the General Will's orientation towards the common good? Will the effort be worth the dangers that are commonly associated with Rousseau's theory of the General Will, such as dictatorship, etc.?
III. Compare Locke and Rousseau on the relationship between property and political freedom. How do the two thinkers' different conceptions of freedom and equality inform their different views of the political significance of property? How do their views on property reflect their different views on the role of government? Is the institution of private property an advance in the human species' capacity for liberty, or the cause of its descent into inequality and tyranny?
IV. In the second Discourse, Rousseau provides an extended critique of the premises and conclusions of social contract theory as it is used by Hobbes and Locke. Synthesize these criticisms into three or four main points. In your judgment, are these criticisms valid? When Rousseau writes his own version of the social contract, how does he attempt to remedy the problems that he has identified? In your judgment, is he successful? Why or why not?