ENGL 298 B: Intermediate Writing Social Sciences   Autumn 2011, University of Washington

For my third paper, I’m looking to tie my three ideas into one. Paige suggested that examining inequality was the most compelling of the three and I was wondering which one you thought was, and why.

(Also, sorry I botched the attachment, I’m just copy and pasting it at this point)

Andrew Sweeney

Monday, December 5^th, 2011

English 298

Threshold Concepts in Rousseau

I understood Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” to be a roadmap to establishing a political society from a state of nature. And while his theory may be somewhat arbitrary and without base, it becomes a threshold concept by the time you are finished reading. The idea that humans are inherently self-perfecting and that humans will inherently form a political society is something that I never would have thought about until taking a course on political theory and reading Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.” This threshold concept altered the way I understood all political theory.

Now I understand Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” and all political theory to be more of a solution to the newly established problem that we have established a state of war. Hobbes and Locke are only providing alternative emergency plans, and although they both had different views on a state of nature and emerging from the state of nature, they both know that if you allow man to grit it out in a state of war, it would leave a mess.

Another part of this threshold concept from Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” describes the aforementioned process out of a state of nature as the way that inequality is established. This is compelling because it points out that inequality needs to be examined. This inequality comes form what Rousseau says is a “Trick the rich play on the poor,” in Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.” This describes the need to examine inequality thoroughly. Before I understood this concept, I had a rough conceptualization of where inequality came from, but after understanding the process described in Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” I now understand that it is from the same process that pulls humans out of a state of nature.

This threshold concept extracted from Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” not only just changes ones perspective, on political theory and the way in which inequality can be looked at, it also makes for a pretty decent roadmap to the political cynicism of Rousseau. And although he may have been a bit of an eccentric, his ideas have been validated by the fact that he is still read across the world. The political cynic that Rousseau is would look at all of the work by Hobbes and Locke and see it as menial to some extent, but would also bring a perspective that could not be replicated.

A political cynic, who had uncovered the threshold concept in Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” would view any normative political theory as important, but also through a very unique lens. This would point out the flaw of authoritarian nature to Hobbes and the flaw of the whim and caprice of the majority to Locke. And to Plato, the Cynic would argue that the laws that Socrates abided by where nothing but a manifestation of the trick that was played in the past by the strong on the weak.