An Analysis of the Writings of Rousseau, Montagu and Montesquieu - Term Paper Example

? Eighteenth century social order and values: An analysis of the writings of Rousseau, Montagu and Montesquieu Date In almost all parts of the world, there are people, of different caliber, sizes, thought and standing. A question then lingers in our minds whether all these people owe the same origin from one particular place. When we traverse places of the world, then the realization of the differences that exist in the human society becomes even more evident. The whole difference is ever obviously portrayed in all manner of modesty contrasted with primitivism. The two wide variations are often magnificently cast on the people’s ways of life, mannerisms in speech, the complexity of certain dwellings contrasted with the rugged and the charred abodes that others have as their sole possession without which they have absolutely nowhere to lay their dirty heads. Briefly, I am trying to bring to the reader’s attention the various classes of people that segment our societies around the world. Two extreme ends of people always in contrast with each other are seen in every corner of the world. Despite the struggle to limit this difference, it has continued to widen. More people are becoming poorer as few people grow richer every day. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen more and more each day. This paper will look at the discourse analysis in the human society concerning the economic endowment and wealth possession in the eighteenth century Europe. This is done in line with close examination of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s discourse on the origins and foundations of inequalities among men in conjunction with Montague’s letters and Charles Louis de Secondant, Baron de Montesquieu Persian letters. The three writers come to a common conclusion that wealth possession created different social classes of people in the eighteenth century Europe. These classes were distinguished in various ways and in various places that it was quite easy to segregate the society into classes depending on the manner in which they carried out themselves, the languages spoken as well as their dressing modes and the complexity in their abodes. The differences as Rousseau argue are a result of the malicious nature of humanity. He argues that men were created the same by their creator but later on inventing malicious ways of gaining wealth and honor in the society at the expense of the others who are usually left suffering under the shadow of abject poverty. Rousseau in his work asserts that malicious ways were used on the poor in order to exploit them and for the rich to maintain their high standing in the society. Rousseau notes that on the contrary, the average person who is the ideal man after creation, before the invention of the evils that were eminent in the eighteenth century Europe, is the most rational man that existed from the beginning. Rousseau recognizes two kinds of inequalities in Europe in his text, the natural inequality that was put in place by the creator Himself. Natural or physical inequalities include the differences in age, health, bodily strength and qualities of the mind. These he says are naturally endowed on humans and can only be changed by nature itself and man can do very little to influence them. On the other hand is the moral or political inequality which is created by man himself in his bid to acquire status in the society and which is always acquired at the detriment of the others. Rousseau points that the latter inequality is man induced since it depends on the conventions of human perception. The political inequality is what defines the value and the status of a man in the eighteenth century Europe and was the most regarded of all. Despite the fact that the political inequality could not last for long and that it vanishes just like the wind; people still valued it as the title of respect. People did not care how they would acquire the political or moral status, they did not as well bother who did not have what as long as they had what they wanted. Rousseau’s arguments are in line with those of Montagu and Montesquieu in their letters who equally notice that the main cause for the moral or social inequality in Europe during the eighteenth century was augmented by man’s bid to acquire status for himself in the society at the expense of the others. This created the two main extreme classes of the poor and the rich in the European societies of the time. The result of this kind of inequality is the continued oppression of the poor by the rich. For instance, Montagu in one her letters to the counties of B notices the two distinct groups. The distinction she makes is even more evident, the posh environment that the rich acquire and dwell in, for instance, the streets here are well built and full with a jovial lot of people neatly dressed in clean and expensive clothes, and shops fully packed symbolizing the availability of money which is a characteristic of the rich. She draws a sharp contrast on this by painting an illusionary picture describing the poor background occupied mainly by the poor lot in the society. This she describes to be shabby and unclean, full of dirty people who seem to be emaciated with the streets worn out and no one is bothering to make the repair, this was the nature of the contrasting classes present in the eighteenth century Europe. The continued struggle for money and the accumulation of wealth among various people in the society according to Montagu was the prime cause of the inequalities that she noticed in the countries she widely traversed. To conclude, Montesqueiu points out the form of irrationality in humanity in dealing with the others. The continued oppression of the poor by the rich is evident even in the current world where places are designed for certain categories of people depending on their material possession. He launches a ferocious attack on the subject of class politics and sympathetically addresses the oppression that the poor man undergoes in service for the rich. Montesquieu relates this to the slave – master relationship when he notes in his third letter The rich live in magnificent houses with a wide range of comfort; dine in high tables inexpensive hotels and restaurants while the poor people are left to rejoice in nothing other than their continued suffering. The irony is that it is the poor making the rich richer. Bibliographies Montagu, Mary Wortey. Letters. London: Cambridge University Press, 1790. Montesquieu, M. Persian Letters. London: T-Evans, 1977. Rousseau, Jean- Jacques. Discourse on the Origins and foundations of Inequality Among men. London: Cambridge University Press , 1949. Read More