In each episode, I talk with one of the world’s leading scholars about one book that changed the course of history. Zachary Davis: Welcome to Writ Large, a podcast about how books change the world. James Kloppenberg: When John Adams is asked to write the constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1780-the constitution that's still in place-he writes to a friend after he's written his draft, “It is Sidney and Locke, Rousseau and de Mably reduced to practice.” Rousseau’s theories of reform were incredibly influential and remain so today, even, for example, in the state I live in. In order for humans to truly flourish, society had to be reformed. In The Social Contract and other writings, Rousseau argued that humans are born good but that society corrupts them. Rousseau was a vocal critic of refined European society and monarchical power. Zachary Davis: This is the opening sentence to The Social Contract. My name is James Kloppenberg, I teach history at Harvard University. James Kloppenberg: I first encountered Rousseau’s Social Contract my first day as a freshman in high school because the teacher of that world history course wrote on the blackboard “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” He explored these questions in his 1762 work, The Social Contract. Were humans born selfish, or were they made that way? He wanted to know where our selfish tendencies come from.
Many thinkers have wondered if this ugly side can be overcome, whether through education, discipline, or some other approach.īut the 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau went a step further.
But there’s no denying we also have an ugly side. Zachary Davis: Humans are extraordinary creatures capable of sublime creativity, resilience, and compassion.
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