POLS 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Amour-Propre, French Revolution, Social Contract
9 Dec 2016
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Course outline: advice and marking scheme for essays. 2 hour exam (worth 20% of final mark) Democracy as a morally attractive and a way of life for human beings. Man is by nature good but he is corrupted and depraved by society (in contrast with. The authority of the state is compatible with freedom of the individual (general will) Discourse of the origin of inequality a. b. This is not part of man"s original condition and thus it needs to be explained and justified (rousseau"s society - king , aristocracy, etc. ) Major cause of our corruption was the creation of private property (passage) State of nature: our concern is with self preservation (amour de soi - love of self) These unpleasant characteristics (e. g. greed oppression, etc. ) derive from society, not nature. Amour de soi (love of self) replaced by amour propre (self love, vanity, pride) Compete for fruit and ferocious animals that are trying to kill you.
