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Explain Rousseau's dissent from Enlightenment politcal thought. Before attempting a comparison of Enlightenment thought and that of Rousseau, it should be noted that the Enlightenment consisted of a large group of individual thinkers who were often not in agreement and thus, as Crocker points out, the ideas generated by the movement consisted of "a vortex of conflicting theories and proposals" (1969, p1). However, bearing this lack of cohesion in mind, it is still possible to elicit several common beliefs of the 'philosophes'. Building on the ideas developed in the 17th century, the Enlightenment rejected all authority (especially the institution of the Church) as the basis of knowledge and instead relied upon reason (either induction or deduction) to investigate the world and develop general laws. It was believed that all questions could be resolved through the application of rational method and thus that progress was inevitable. Rousseau (1712-1778), despite being a contributor...

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