From Nature To Society:The Sentiment Basis Of Rousseau’s Political Construction

In the history of Western political thought,the study of reason occupies a dominant position.Sentiment are not valued because of their privacy and subjectivity,and even become subordinate to reason.However,in Rousseau’s view,reason is not enough to be the basis of politics because in logic and time,sentiment takes precedence over reason,and politics can only be stable if it is based on sentiment.Therefore,this dissertation discusses Rousseau’s criticism of the state of nature to the state of society,and summarizes Rousseau’s discussion of emotion and politics into three questions: Why does Rousseau choose sentiment as the basis of human existence between sentiment and reason ? How can sentiment break through themselves and enter the political fields to play a normative role? How sentiment explain the phenomenon of individual political apathy.First of all,Rousseau’s opposition to reason refers specifically to the "enlightening rationality" of the Enlightenment Age.For the argument between reason and sentiment,Rousseau believes that the two are not antagonistic but complementary.Secondly,the social normative ability of sentiment can be reflected in Rousseau’s discussion of the two concepts of Pity and General Will: on the one hand,from the individual perspective,on the basis of the two principles of self-love and Pity,which precede rationality,sentiment can be extended from individual to others,thus playing a role in the political fields;On the other hand,from the point of view of law,which is a rule already in existence in society,it is sentiment that plays a central role behind it.Both paths embody the norms required by modern politics.Finally,the phenomenon of indifference originates from the masking of individual emotions.With the help of Rousseau’s image of The Solitude,this dissertation takes the concept of The Solitude as a necessary condition for building political life and resisting negative politics.