450 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



the French mind than of that of any other nation, it 



was for the time being thrown into the background 



and superseded by the thoroughly unscientific and 



26. unmethodical denunciations of Kousseau. The latter 



Rousseau. 



gained his great influence on French, Swiss, and German 

 thought mainly through two works, ' The Social Contract/ 

 and his educational treatise, ' Emile.' The former was 

 the gospel of many of the leaders in the excesses of 

 the French Revolution, the latter, as I stated above, 

 inspired Swiss and German educationalists. Both dealt 

 with great social problems. 



Rousseau looked upon the existing organisations of 

 society and the fabric of the State as mechanical con- 

 trivances, deliberately formed by contract or convention. 

 He looked upon them not as the natural outcome of the 

 social instincts of human beings, but as an inevitable 

 contrivance through which a much better state of 

 things, the state of nature, has been artificially modelled 

 and controlled. Instead, however, of setting patiently 

 to work trying to improve the existing machine of 

 society, the treatise lays much more stress upon the 

 desirable return to nature which, nevertheless, is ad- 

 mitted to be impossible. So far as any attempt is made 

 towards construction, the treatise is full of contradic- 

 tions and inconsistencies, accompanied by historical 

 allusions frequently incorrect or misapplied ; never- 

 theless it preached successfully the gospel of Fraternity 

 and of the sovereignty of the People, a doctrine which 

 was not new, which had been promulgated by Locke in 

 this country, and had entered into the democratic spirit 

 of the small republic of Geneva, Rousseau's native place. 



