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Single Idea 19748
[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / b. Consultation
]
Full Idea
I would not approve of plebiscites like those of the Romans where the state's leaders and those most interested in its preservation were excluded from the deliberations on which its safety often depended.
Gist of Idea
Plebiscites are bad, because they exclude the leaders from crucial decisions
Source
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin of Inequality [1754], Intro letter)
Book Ref
Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.27
A Reaction
I wish David Cameron had read this before 2016. This is exactly what happened with the Brexit referendum, where the people voted for an action entirely opposed to the preference of the majority of their elected representatives. Chaos ensued.
The
43 ideas
from 'Discourse on the Origin of Inequality'
19747
|
Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains
[Rousseau]
|
19748
|
Plebiscites are bad, because they exclude the leaders from crucial decisions
[Rousseau]
|
19749
|
In a direct democracy, only the leaders should be able to propose new laws
[Rousseau]
|
19746
|
Like rich food, liberty can ruin people who are too weak to cope with it
[Rousseau]
|
19775
|
People must be made dependent before they can be enslaved
[Rousseau]
|
19774
|
A savage can steal fruit or a home, but there is no means of achieving obedience
[Rousseau]
|
19772
|
In a state of nature people are much more equal; it is society which increases inequalities
[Rousseau]
|
19767
|
Reason leads to prudent selfishness, which overrules natural compassion
[Rousseau]
|
19757
|
No one would bother to reason, and try to know things, without a desire for enjoyment
[Rousseau]
|
19760
|
General ideas are purely intellectual; imagining them is immediately particular
[Rousseau]
|
19759
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Only words can introduce general ideas into the mind
[Rousseau]
|
19758
|
Language may aid thinking, but powerful thought was needed to produce language
[Rousseau]
|
19773
|
Without love, what use is beauty?
[Rousseau]
|
19769
|
Rational morality is OK for brainy people, but ordinary life can't rely on that
[Rousseau]
|
19768
|
The better Golden Rule is 'do good for yourself without harming others'
[Rousseau]
|
19766
|
The fact that we weep (e.g. in theatres) shows that we are naturally compassionate
[Rousseau]
|
19756
|
Humans are less distinguished from other animals by understanding, than by being free agents
[Rousseau]
|
19755
|
Most human ills are self-inflicted; the simple, solitary, regular natural life is good
[Rousseau]
|
19762
|
Is language a pre-requisite for society, or might it emerge afterwards?
[Rousseau]
|
19763
|
I doubt whether a savage person ever complains of life, or considers suicide
[Rousseau]
|
19765
|
Savages avoid evil because they are calm, and never think of it (not because they know goodness)
[Rousseau]
|
19771
|
Savage men quietly pursue desires, without the havoc of modern frenzied imagination
[Rousseau]
|
19770
|
Primitive people simply redressed the evil caused by violence, without thought of punishing
[Rousseau]
|
19761
|
Men started with too few particular names, but later had too few natural kind names
[Rousseau]
|
19776
|
Small uninterrupted causes can have big effects
[Rousseau]
|
19783
|
A state of war remains after a conquest, if the losers don't accept the winners
[Rousseau]
|
19778
|
Leisure led to envy, inequality, vice and revenge, which we now see in savages
[Rousseau]
|
19779
|
Primitive man was very gentle
[Rousseau]
|
19789
|
It is against nature for children to rule old men, fools to rule the wise, and the rich to hog resources
[Rousseau]
|
19787
|
People accept the right to be commanded, because they themselves wish to command
[Rousseau]
|
19780
|
We seem to have made individual progress since savagery, but actually the species has decayed
[Rousseau]
|
19784
|
Enslaved peoples often boast of their condition, calling it a state of 'peace'
[Rousseau]
|
19785
|
If the child of a slave woman is born a slave, then a man is not born a man
[Rousseau]
|
19786
|
Three stages of the state produce inequalities of wealth, power, and enslavement
[Rousseau]
|
19788
|
The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them
[Rousseau]
|
19777
|
Persuading other people that some land was 'owned' was the beginning of society
[Rousseau]
|
19782
|
What else could property arise from, but the labour people add to it?
[Rousseau]
|
19781
|
Land cultivation led to a general right of ownership, administered justly
[Rousseau]
|
19754
|
If we have a natural right to property, what exactly does 'belonging to' mean?
[Rousseau]
|
19750
|
Writers just propose natural law as the likely useful agreements among people
[Rousseau]
|
19752
|
If we should not mistreat humans, it is mainly because of sentience, not rationality
[Rousseau]
|
19751
|
Our two starting principles are concern for self-interest, and compassion for others
[Rousseau]
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19753
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Both men and animals are sentient, which should give the latter the right not to be mistreated
[Rousseau]
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