GVPT 241 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: French Revolution, Social Change
9 May 2016
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Document Summary
Rousseau is talking about fundamental transformations of the political structure; there is no call for social change. The way you change society is to change the political institutions that govern it. The american revolution worked bc it was a political revolution; the french worked initially because of it being a social revolution, but no institutions were changed, and so things went back to the way they were. Changing political institutions will create the rational foundations for a more equal society. If rousseau had lived to see the french revolution he would have been appalled. Equality is good for society; it is obvious that it is more fundamental than our own self-interest. If everyone can look past selfishness and partiality, the world can be a better place. What"s right is equality is liberty, you will know that when you look into your heart bc we are all fundamentally compassionate beings.
