The Social Theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

The interpretation of Rousseau's writings from categorical fields of sociological theory make way for a reconstruction of the author's proposals based on fundamental sociological concepts that would later be laid out by classic 19^th century sociologists. Obviously, these concepts are not found in Rousseau's work in terms of a formal theory as so much as notions or ideas of great intellectual value. In this paper we proceed to draw out the social theory lines from Rousseau's work. Hence we put forth our reconstruction of a rousseaunian vision of human history, mankind's condition, social action and society as a whole. Theories that make up a social ontology that is clearly marked by the belief of substantiated alienation and negativity both intrinsic to social phenomena.