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Quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Work

The Social Contract

This influential work delves into the philosophical underpinnings of political authority and governance, examining the relationship between individuals and the state through the lens of a hypothetical social contract. more

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher, writer, and composer, considered one of the most important figures of the Enlightenment. His works have had a profound impact on subsequent literature, political, and social theories. more

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“The members of a body-politic call it "the state" when it is passive, "the sovereign" when it is active, and a "power" when they compare it with others of its kind. Collectively they use the title "people," and they refer to one another individually as "citizens" when speaking of their participation in the authority of the sovereign, and as "subjects" when speaking of their subordination to the laws of the state.”

PeopleKindStatesUseBodyLawSubjectsCitizensMembersAuthorityActiveTitlesComparePassiveSovereignParticipationSubordination
Author:Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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“Quite generally, the familiar, just because it is familiar, is not cognitively understood. The commonest way in which we deceive either ourselves or others about understanding is by assuming something as familiar, and accepting it on that account; with all its pros and cons, such knowing never gets anywhere, and it knows not why.... The analysis of an idea, as it used to be carried out, was, in fact, nothing else than ridding it of the form in which it had become familiar.”

ThinkingKnowsWayIdeasFactsFormUsedUnderstandingAcceptingKnowingUnderstoodAccountsAssumingFamiliarUsed To BeAnalysisThoughtfulDeceivingPros And Cons
Author:Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
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“The True is the whole. But the whole is nothing other than the essence consummating itself through its development. Of the Absolute it must be said that it is essentially a result, that only in the end is it what it truly is; and that precisely in this consists its nature, viz. to be actual, subject, the spontaneous becoming of itself.”

SaidEndsWholeTruthResultsSubjectsDevelopmentBecomingEssenceAbsolutesSpontaneous
Book:Phenomenology of Spirit
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