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Western Political Thought

Notes or their threats, no guarantee for international agreements, unsafe and expensive means of obtaining
justice when a wrong was committed, risk and inconvenience of wars, loss of trade during crises
and general impoverishment and lack of security. The benefits of arbitration were certainty of
settling disputes peacefully, abolition of the causes of disputes, personal security for rulers,
fulfilment of agreements between rulers, freedom of trade, reduced military expenses, increase in
population, agriculture and public wealth and happiness. Rousseau also concluded that St. Pierre’s
plans were not adopted because the princes were short-sighted in their ambition and greed for
power. The other related reasons were their refusal to submit themselves to arbitration and their
blind pursuit of their self-interest neglecting the wisdom of general good. He considered revolution
as the only means to establish the federation but sensing the violence it would unleash, he realized
that it would be dreaded and would be difficult to establish under the existing circumstances.
8.12 Women and Family

Rousseau defended the patriarchal family. He saw the family as a natural institution, and the
oldest of all societies. It was based on natural ties of love and affection, and originated in the
biological process of procreation and in the natural differences between the sexes. The family
provided the model for other social institutions that were natural. Within the family, age preceded
youth, and males had a natural authority over females. In fact, he regarded women as a permanently
subversive force within the political system, a point reiterated subsequently by Hegel. He preferred
patriarchal families, partly because they needed a single authority (which could not be exerted by
the wife because she periodically got confined by reproductive activities), and partly because the
man had to dominate his wife to ensure that she was chaste and virtuous. He repeatedly argued
that a good woman would stay within the family circle, avoiding social distractions and political
preoccupations. It was interesting to note that Rousseau’s concerns with natural goodness and
social corruption did not figure in his analysis of the status of women. He assigned a subordinate
position to women in society, and an education that would be suitable to an inferior position.
For Rousseau, men and women differed in virtues. While a man’s virtue was his rational capacity,
a woman’s virtue was her sexuality, which meant chastity, gentleness and obedience. Since the
functions of men and women differed, their education would also have to be different. The difference
in the biological constitution of women—pregnancy, nursing the young—did not enable them to
be at par with men, and thereby engage in activities that were similar to the ones that men
pursued. While men could have the maximum freedom, women would be trained in accepting the
constraints and dictates of social and public opinion. If women tried to be like men, they would
cease to have qualities that were purely womanly. On the contrary, they would acquire qualities
of both men and women, which they would be unable to reconcile and assimilate, falling below
their own standards. The woman had an identity only in relation to a man, and therefore her
education had to be geared to please and be at the mercy of a man:
Woman is specially made for man’s delight. If man in his turn ought to be pleasing in
her eyes, the necessity is less urgent, his virtue is in his strength, he pleases because he
is strong. I grant you this is not the law of love, but it is the law of nature, which is
older than love itself .... If woman is made to please and to be in subjection to man, she
ought to make herself pleasing in his eyes and not provoke him to anger.
Rousseau did not think women to be suitable for abstract and speculative truths, and for principles
and axioms of scientific study. For Rousseau their studies would be practical, for women loved
finery, were naturally cunning and more talkative than men. He pointed out that little girls loved
to play with dolls and took to sewing rather than reading and writing. He did not believe that
traits in children developed out of the socializing process.
Rousseau regarded women as a source of sexual passion. Nature had made women the stimulator
of men’s passions, hence men had to try and please them if their desires were to be satisfied. Men

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