The Social Contract Essays - Philosophes, Age Of Enlightenment

"The Social Contract" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are." Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his dramatic opening lines to his immensely powerful treatise "The Social Contract," wrote that man was naturally good but becomes corrupted by the pernicious influence of human society and institutions. He preached a mankind improved by returning to nature and living a natural life at peace with his neighbors and himself. He claims to be in favor of democracy, but what he really favors is egalitarianism. Rousseau's influence both in art and politics was huge in his own day and continues to be strong today. Voltaire and Rousseau "To hold a pen is to be at war!" Voltaire to Mme. d' Angenthal Octiber 4, 1748 Voltaire and Rousseau Although they are two of the most famous of the great French philosophes, Rousseau and Voltaire hated each other. In fact, it would be hard to ever envision the urbane and suave Voltaire and the radically democratic Rousseau ever seeing eye to eye on much: Voltaire believed that through education and reason man could separate himself from the beasts while Rousseau thought that it was precisely all this which made men "unnatural" and corrupted. As Betrand Russell put it so eloquently: "It is not surprising that Rousseau and Voltaire ultimately quarreled; the marvel is that they did not quarrel sooner." Like many intellectuals, Rousseau was a great lover of mankind as a collective but singularly unable to appreciate or get along with any individual persons who he encountered in his life. On the other hand, Voltaire was not a person you wanted to engage in a literary t?te-a-t?te as his scorn and ridicule were lethal. Rousseau sent Voltaire a copy of his "The Social Contract" and Voltaire wrote him the following: "I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in the design of making us all stupid. One longs, in reading your book, to walk on all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel unhappily the impossibility of resuming it. Nor can I embark in search of the savages of Canada, because the maladies to which I am condemned render a European surgeon necessary to me; because war is going on in those regions; and because the example of our actions has made the savages nearly as bad as ourselves." Voltaire, a young man in the France of King Louis' XIV, supposedly was seen talking too loudly at the opera in December of 1725 by a certain French aristocrat named the Chevalier de Rohan-Chabot. In the France of that time, anyone who did not have a de at the end of their name denoting royal patronage was immediately looked down upon. Rohan confronted him superciliously with the haughty question: "Monsieur de Voltaire, Monsieur Arouet - comment vous appelez-vous? [what really is your name?]" Voltaire is said to have replied: "One who does not trail after a great name, but knows how to honor that which he has!" Yikes! The enraged Chevalier raised his cane to strike while Voltaire tried to draw his sword before the fight was broken up and the two separated. Voltaire spent the next day practicing swordsmanship for a duel to the death with Rohan when the aristocrat simply had Voltaire arrested and thrown into the Bastille. Soon thereafter, Voltaire was exiled to England where men and minds were free. "I have asked God for only one thing in my life and that is that he should make people laugh at my enemies. And he did."\

Some of the Many Types of Media Studies Essay Topics

Some of the Many Types of Media Studies Essay TopicsIt is possible to find hundreds of media studies essay topics on the internet. With so many different types of essays to choose from, you will need to have a good idea about which type of media studies essay topic you should choose.The first thing that you should think about is the format in which you want to present your media studies essay topic. This can be as brief or as long as you desire it to be. In the end, just make sure that it is written in a way that it is clear and understandable.Once you have chosen your topic, the next thing you should consider is what your potential audience is. Is it a general audience? Or is it someone who has a certain level of knowledge in this field?Once you know your audience, you can now begin to narrow down your selection of media studies essay topics. If you already know how the material will be presented in the essay, it is time to do your research into the topics that are commonly accepted .One of the things you need to look for when looking for such media studies essay topics is the validity of the theory. You may not realize it, but the idea behind these essays is based on the ideas that have been discussed before. So, if the theory of media has been discussed by many experts, then you can rest assured that your essay will be similar.A great thing about these kinds of media studies essay topics is that they are rather easy to write. There are only few guidelines that you need to follow when writing such an essay. Make sure that you stick to these guidelines, as they will help you come up with a better essay.So, these are the main reasons why you should learn more about the different media studies essay topics available online. After you have done your research, it will be time to sit down and begin writing.