The French Revolution and Enlightenment Philosophers

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Rousseau, a proponent of equality and freedom, in his "The Social Contract" passionately argued that common consensus should derive each law; whereby the French Revolution saw the end of absolutism in France and the creation of National Assembly, a representative body from among the masses. The author points out that Enlightenment ideas, which were put forth by Hume, furiously attacked religion, especially the Catholic Church, for yielding too much power and spreading falsehoods; whereby, the denouncement of religion is reflected in the French Revolution in the legislation of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy". The paper relates that, on the other hand, the French Revolution had its critics, such as Edmund Burke, who saw the bloody revolution as corrupt and a threat to traditional establishments.

From the Paper:

"Edmund Burke also views the National Assembly as a corrupt, impractical body. He believes that the masses are utterly ignorant and for leaders to follow them could be disastrous. Here Burke dismisses Rousseau's idea of the general will as he does not believe the masses are capable of policy making. Burke writes, "In this political traffic, the leaders will be obliged to bow to the ignorance of their followers, and the followers to become subservient to the worst designs of their leaders." Unlike Rousseau, Burke believes that the right to vote should only lie in the educated, property owning class."

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