Discourse 1 & 2

In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourses, freedom is one of the most important themes. Freedom is possible for the human person, but things such as society play a considerable role in limiting human freedom. He argues that culture is what teaches people ideas which enslaved them in society, thus he firmly holds that people are better off in their original state of nature. In The First and Second Discourses, Rousseau describes what life is like in …

…is not dependant on others and cannot be dominated. Although freedom is possible for the human person, Rousseau is certain that this type of primitively positive freedom is no longer possible in the modern world. Civilized society as a whole greatly limits the possibility of coming even remotely close to positive freedom. Although the more desirable positive freedom is no longer achievable, negative freedom can still be promising, making freedom possible for the human person.