ABSTRACT
This study critically examines the political philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau fundamentally recounts the innocence and moral pedigree of men in the state of nature which were absolutely corrupted by man's involvement and inquest in the state of civil society. Rousseau avers that human beings were born without vices, but were trapped by the evils of society. Rousseau created a roadmap by which the freedom and sanctity of the human person can be realized, and this is only possible in the condition of a general will. This study therefore makes the point that, Rousseau's view that human beings in the state of nature was good, ignorant, peaceful and innocent informs his social contract theory of state in which he maintains that each of the associates puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme general will. This particular understanding of human beings is further shown to have influenced his thought on the nature of morality; in which he holds that morality stems from human feeling of self-love and compassion for his fellow human being. The general will of Rousseau is a unifying force that binds autonomous units together in order to forge a common front and achieve their goal in the spirit of harmonious complementarity. Rousseau exposed the audience with the sterling truth that the pursuit and craze for fame, knowledge, honor, and wealth in the state of civil society yielded concomitant evil and immorality, degeneration and obvious contradiction from the approved style of existence in the state of nature.
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