ABSTRACT
This chapter considers Jean Jacques Rousseau’s judgment on the state as it was in his own time, reserving for subsequent consideration his theory of the ideal state, his tendencies as a practical reformer, and the possible application of his ideas to the type of state that has since evolved. Rousseau’s hostility to the despotic governments of his day does not by itself justify the assumption that he favoured political liberty. The danger of a generous and even liberal outlook on society without the safeguard of political principles is exhibited in Voltaire’s practical judgments. Rousseau’s attack on the English constitution can be reduced to a criticism of one particular feature, to which he is opposed on general theoretic grounds, the system of representation. Criticisms of Rousseau’s civil religion are apt to be based on an implicit supposition that it is a theory peculiar to himself.
