Rousseau and Mills on Progressive Beings - Essay Sample

Introduction

Rousseau and Mills offer divergent opinions on the concept of progressive beings. In the opening remarks of Rousseau's sentiments titled, "The Social Contract" he says people are born free even though they happen to be in chains everywhere they go. These words present a summary of his philosophy and also prove their significance in the present world. It defines natural man as the epitome of freedom and the ability to live in the forest. He further explains the way man moved from his autonomous state to the modern condition. The modern condition is explained as one dominated by sadness, violence, and dependency which all culminate to dependency.

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The contract was written in the year 1762 and it picks off from the point at which the discourse on the basis as well as the origins of inequality among men left off. Rousseau admits to there being some positive aspects of the process which included the creation of families and the building of cities (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Other important aspects are mentioned as the creation of social organizations as well as the discovery of technologies and tools. Unfortunately, the same circumstances give way to what is known as the right to the strongest. This denotes a rule of inequality in the society which threatens man's state of freedom and happiness (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). The situation leads to the alienation of sections of humanity leading an unhappy ending to the discourse of inequality. Social contract attempts to find a solution to man's issue of inequality.

Mill optimizes critical thinking as the pedestal of human living. Critical thinking entails asking the right questions, examination of the evidence provided, and definition of the problem or the issue at hand (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Critical thinkers analyze biases and assumptions and avoid reasoning from an emotional perspective. Such thinkers are however careful not to oversimplify matters and tolerate ambiguity. Dealing with critical thinking emerges as an essential part of critical thinking (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Doubt and uncertainty serve the primary function of analysis and remain necessary and necessary parts of the thinking process. One other essential trait of thinking is that of metacognition.

According to Mill, other aspects include concept formation, imagination, and problem-solving. One of the core tenets of scholarship is that it allows scholars to make scientific judgments necessary for finding solutions to life's problems. Thinking skills give offer the human aspect of being human (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Bloom elaborates the most popular elaboration of critical thinking in the Bloom taxonomy. The approach to the determination of behaviors in thinking divided the act of cognition into higher and lower order skills in reasoning.

Plenty of research has been compiled over the years concerning the area of critical thinking in progressive living. Mill offers various conceptions defining the subject. Researchers, professors, and students use multiple skills of progressive living for the conveyance of ideas and arguments (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). The style of writing is marked by evidence-based research, precision in word choice, and an impersonal tone. Strong and liberal thinking is the opposite of what many people believe it to be. Liberal thinking enables the readers to engage in scholarly dialogue entailing questioning, reasoning, and planning. Astute liberal-mindedness seeks to appeal to the reader's willingness to reason the matter through via the merits of its logic.

Rousseau believes that man's tendency to seek perfection make the passage from a state of nature to that of society is both necessary and accidental. Men are different from animals in the sense that they are programmed to progress from one condition to the next. Rousseau determines a means via which men can connect their personalities with one another (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Moreover, such men maintain their personal liberty within a political and social organization.

Metacognition refers to the practice of thoughtful analysis. It means being aware of the thought process of a person as he or she performs particular tasks. It involves using awareness to control what one is doing. Such knowledge is essential in controlling what one is doing. The primary objective of progressive thinking is to inform as opposed to entertainment. Liberal thinker follows the standard form of the written language and hence follows all the written laws of grammar and punctuation (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Ten main features of liberal-mindedness stand out. Freedom of thought takes a degree of complexity, formality, objectivity, and responsibility. The language has longer words and is has longer lexical length with a wide array of vocabulary.

Rousseau posits that there are capable of associating with one another while keeping their individual freedoms within a political and social organization. The concept is referred to as general will (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). The concept refers to a kind of association in which an individual removes him or herself to the general will. In doing so, such a person regains his or her freedom in a political form. Some schools of thought have criticized such a frame of thinking because they say it leads to dictatorship. Scholars like Louis Althusser posit that such a frame of thinking is founded on the premise that the people enter into a contract with no one else but their logical possibility (Denneys-Tunney, 2012).

Reasons must be done vigorously and inconsistent manner. Thinkers must avoid the trap of fallacies in logic and biased sources for references. The two methods conceptualize thinking into two facets. Researchers have developed other models of learning in the forms of evaluation, creation, processing, and remembrance all of which are essential to the process of learning (Hobson, 2014). Production and evaluation are of crucial significance to the learning process needed for the enhancement of learning in all parts of the world.

Mill posits that such language employs the use of verb-based phrases and noun based phrases. Every part of the article is designed to contribute to the central theme of the argument. Progressive thought process does not contain repetition or digressions (Hobson, 2014). It employs a precise use of language and accuracy. Many of the subjects in progressive thought have words containing narrow and specific kinds of meaning.

Critical thinking entails dispositions. Such thinkers are skeptical and open-minded at the same time. They value fair-mindedness and respect reasoning based on evidence. They respect precision and clarity and consider various views of the same point. They only shift perspectives when influenced by strong reason (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Critical thinking entails the application of criteria. Proper thinking requires a meeting of conditions before the judgment of factors to determine whether they are believable or true. Although it can be argued that some subject matters respond to different criteria, some of the standards of proper thinking apply to all the subjects on board (Hobson, 2014). An assertion made must be based on accurate and relevant facts at all times.

Critical thinking is an essential tool in progressive thinking without which the craft would be inadequate and pointless. Scholarly articles seek to offer new information that accrues from the well-researched and reasoned argument (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Moreover, it aims to challenge already existing knowledge and therefore strengthen it or dispute it all for the good of scholarship. An argument connotes a proposition or a statement accompanied by supporting evidence. Critical thinking entails construction of arguments, identification of facts and evaluation of data (Hobson, 2014). The primary argument of the paper is hence pegged to the information that needs to be passed and the argument the writer needs to make as opposed to the position of the writer.

Rousseau maintained the idea that in the form of the general will, man's alienation would manage to transform into a kind of freedom at the end. Such an occurrence does not make a man any less than the inventor of dialectics. Such a man unites the opposing concepts of nature or those of freedom as well as society (Denneys-Tunney, 2012). Such unification occurs in the process of their opposition. All of the philosophies Rousseau come up with an attempt to find a solution to the issue of alienation (Hobson, 2014). For the philosopher, the only thing that makes humans different from all the other animals is his free will. This freedom is normally placed in danger or threatened all the time's man enters into society.

Overall, as revolutionary thinkers, both Rousseau and Mill understand the general will or what is otherwise known as the will of the people. Such sentiments must always reign supreme and that remains the catch in progressive thinking. The two posit that is in freedom of thought that humans regain their freedom within their social organizations. As opposed to self-interest, general will, and interest guarantees man his liberty and freedom of thought, speech and expression. Both thinkers agree that no society can be free unless they comprehend the interest or general will that ought to prevail over their individual will. Rousseau also writes for the emergence of machines as well as the rise of technology in the world of man. Nature sustains limited resources that are facing the threat of over-exposure.

References

Denneys-Tunney, A. (2012, July 15). Rousseau shows us that there is a way to break the chains - from within . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/15/rousseau-shows-us-way-break-chains

Hobson, T. (2014, January 20). Jean-Jacques Rousseau: as relevant as ever. from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/jan/20/rousseau-compassionate-intense-relevant-philosopher