Who Opposed The View Of Locke And Montesquieu In The Enlightenment?
Rousseau opposed Montesquieu’s ideas regarding government. Rousseau was the only Enlightment thinker who did not admire the English system, stating that ‘you give up your freedom if you elect someone to work on behalf of you’. He put forward the concept of the ‘General Will’, which involved people in a village supporting and agreeing on an idea. This could be described as a kind of direct democracy as a decision could never be wrong, as the need for law is universally seen. However, Rousseau accepted that this idea would be impractical for larger states, encountering too many problems. Although the General Will seemed an acceptable system in small states, it was seen as a contradiction as anyone who refused to accept its terms could be executed. But most of the philosophes of the Enlightenment agreed that there should be equality before the law and that privileges of the nobility, such as tax exemptions and special courts, should be abolished.