Rousseau had many ideas about how society as a whole should function. His main ideas concern man demanding freedom. With this freedom we will theoretically not compare ourselves to each other, nor try to be better than others. His other main ideas include the general will and the idea of ​​collective sovereignty. These suggest that society and government should fulfill the general will and work together as a cohesive unit. Rousseau wrote several famous books, one of which is The Social Contract. The book begins with the words: “Men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains.” By this he means to say that the civil society in which we live oppresses our birthright to freedom. Without our freedom we are not men and we can never be truly happy. It suggests that the general will requires not only individual freedom and diversity, but also the idea of ​​general well-being. Many people believe that Rousseau is quite contradictory. Some people, however, have tried to find a middle ground between his contradictory ideas. Nonetheless, both groups of people can agree on some aspects of his philosophy, such as the idea that it is directly linked to sovereignty. This sovereignty, however, is not who holds all the power, but rather the people in power doing things to benefit the people. This is why Rousseau believed in participation rather than representation. According to him, if we are going to be represented, we won't necessarily be represented in exactly the way we would like. If we were to participate in government instead, we could all deliberate with each other and come to a better understanding of what each other's ideas are. Also in The Social Contract, Rousseau comments on how the grouping of people in a civil society.... .. middle of paper ......to be perfect our defects and inequalities emerge. This brings us to Rousseau's idea that it is impossible to achieve perfection in society, since the only way to be perfect is to be in our natural state. Rousseau believes that we cannot get caught up in trying to be perfect. Instead, he wants us to be kind to one another, ignore any differences or imperfections, and do things solely for the benefit of everyone else rather than himself. We have to work as one cohesive unit, so we are not able to do things solely for ourselves, everything we do will help or hurt everyone. Works Cited "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Rousseau, Jean-Jacques []. Np, nd Web. October 4, 2013. "Sources of Internet History." Internet history manuals. Np, nd Web. 04 October 2013. “Themes, Arguments, and Ideas.” SparkNote. SparkNotes and Web. 04 October. 2013.