Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Philosophy and “Brave New World”

The fictional society in the book “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, which we recently read in class, may seem shockingly different and new to many, yet a lot of its features have been known to sociologists for quite a long time. This is because Huxley's society has been inspired by the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, in multiple ways. In the following essay it will be explained how the political system, the society and the educational system in “Brave New World” concur with Rousseau’s philosophies.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who lived from 1712-1778, was a French author, philosopher, pedagogue and natural scientist. Although he lived in the time of the Enlightenment, he was not a supporter of the general ideals of this particular time, and was often criticized by his contemporaries. He is often referred to as one of the biggest influences on the French Revolution, as well as on our modern conception of politics and education. His philosophic work concentrates on three main issues, which are the Theory of Natural Man, his political theory about the Social Contract, and the Education of Children.

The Theory of Natural Man is the basis to all his other theories as it explains Rousseau’s general idea of man. Rousseau proclaims that in the very beginning of humankind, before humans gathered together into societies and when they were all by themselves, all humans and their innate instincts were good. He calls this the “State of Nature.” He comes to this conclusion by looking at the society of his time and the fact that there is a lot of crime, hatred and lies between people. This is proof, he claims, that humans are not made to live together, because otherwise there would not be any problems of that kind. Therefore, in his opinion, humans are spoiled by society. Society turns the positive self-love (amour de soi), their desire for self-preservation, from the time of the State of Nature into an unnatural selfishness (amour propre), causing competitive thinking among the people. The source of the foundation of society he sees in the proclamation of property, as inequalities in property are the most common reason for any arguments between men:

“The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”

(Discourse on Inequality, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1754;
found on Wikipedia, “John-Jacques Rousseau”)

Still, Rousseau did not believe that a return to the State of Nature was either possible or desirable, which is why the comparison of his ideals with those of the “Noble Savage” is not correct, though commonly believed.

Rousseau’s political theory derives from this basis, as it focuses on the question how humans could be good and keep their personal freedom living in a competitive society. This is a struggle since in a society, people are not independent from others anymore but need them, and therefore lack freedom. To give this freedom back to them, a new Social Contract needs to be made, based on the general will of the people. This contract is to be realized by the state, and the citizens of the society have to obey the sovereign (or government) executing the general will in order to be protected by this contract. Therefore it is in their very own interest and they do it voluntarily.

Rousseau’s theory about Child Education explains that when growing up the child ought to be separated from any cultural influences, and that any influence the educator is trying to make on the child needs to be subtle, so that in the end the child is left with the belief that he is free to make his own decisions - although these are really the decisions the educator wants him to make. This is to be achieved by slowly letting the child develop his own will equal to the will of the educator, and by convincing him that this option was the best for himself.

Although Rousseau is only once referred to by name in the novel “Brave New World” (p.75, ll. 13-14), it seem as if his philosophy has inspired the author a lot. This can be seen in the way children in the novel’s society are raised. They are born and raised in hatcheries, therefore separated from any outside influences. They are also sleep-taught through “Hypnopaedia,” meaning that while they are sleeping, hundreds of speakers recite phrases over and over again that are supposed to educate them in morality. This makes the children not only know these phrases by heart, but identify with them as they seem absolutely natural and self-evident. This gives them the illusion that these were their own original thoughts. This is also the way freedom and being morally good are possible in the novel, as once the children are grown up they see no reason to disagree with the society because their own morals and opinions (both dictated to them in their sleep) agree with everything the society does. Yet they still have the illusion of freedom because they feel they could also disagree with the society if its actions did not conform with their own opinions. These sleep-taught phrases also replace what Rousseau calls the human’s innate instinct to be good.

Also, property, which Rousseau saw as one of the main reasons for arguments among people, does not interfere with the happiness of the society anymore as everything the people want can be gained easily. This is largely because they only want the things they have been sleep-taught to want, which are never out of their reach.

One might also recognize the figure of Rousseau's Noble Savage in “Brave New World” as all the people in the book's society act according to the common features of the Noble Savage. For example, the absence of lies and crime, their sexual openness and their health. Yet this whole principle takes a rather ironic turn if you take the illusion of self-determination and freedom into account, as it makes them “captured” savages. It is also ironic that the character people in the novel call “the Savage” is the only person who actually is not a Noble Savage, but rather, according to Rousseau's concepts, a person coming from a society that is spoiled by property and competitive thinking, just like the one in Rousseau’s time.

On the whole, it seems as if Aldous Huxley was inspired a lot by Rousseau’s philosophy and adopted many of his suggestions to form the society in his novel. He also shows, however, that Rousseau’s theses are not realizable in an unproblematic way. The society he depicts is on the opposite end of the perfect peaceful world Rousseau was imagining, and Huxley achieved that only by adding a few other details to Rousseau's vision, which is quite alarming. It shows once more that even though there are many different philosophic theories on how the perfect society might look, and how it might come true, they are almost never possible to be realized as there is always something, even the tiniest detail, that might turn it around completely, and that you cannot really count on. Therefore it does not seem possible or even desirable to realize a society like the one Rousseau describes in our near future.

by Laura Schoppe and Christina Rögele

List of Sources