Wow. Rosseau saw obligations to others as enslaving. What a prick.
"What a prick" = nearly universal assessment. But I think you're misreading this. It's a dig against Hobbes' notion of freedom. Yes, in society we have mutual obligations and that puts us "in chains." But at some level it's voluntary, and it's solidly better than the alternative
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But FWIU he did not see those chains as good, whereas I do. It's a core part of my religion, after all (obligations towards God and my fellow human beings at various levels).
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I'm disputing your interpretation (though this is open for debate). Rosseau's references to "chains" and the like were frequently allusions to Hobbesian state of nature and Plato's allegory of the cave, sometimes both at once, even though that's somewhat contradictory.
- End of conversation
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