Comparison Of Gandhain ‘Sarvodaya’ And Jean Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract

The crux of this Gandhian philosophy is what philosophers refer to as ‘the common good’. Common good or common welfare refers to either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by collective action, and active participation in politics and public service. This is a very broad concept and was talked about by several philosophers like Thomas Aquinas, Niccolò Machiavelli, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Madison, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, John Maynard Keynes, John Rawls, and many other thinkers.

Several other philosophers theorized among similar lines but had their own principles. Following are some of these theories and a comparison of their theory to Gandhi’s theory.

Comparison of Gandhian ‘Sarvodaya’ and Jean Jacques Rousseau’s:

Rousseau’s argument in the Discourse is that the only natural inequality among men is the inequality that results from differences in physical strength, for this is the only sort of inequality that exists in the state of nature. As Rousseau explains, however, in modern societies the creation of laws and property have corrupted natural men and created new forms of inequality that are not in accordance with natural law. Rousseau calls these unjustifiable, unacceptable forms of inequality moral inequality, and he concludes by making clear that this sort of inequality must be contested.

Rousseau begins The Social Contract with the most famous words he ever wrote: “Men are born free, yet everywhere are in chains.” From this provocative opening, Rousseau goes on to describe the myriad ways in which the “chains” of civil society suppress the natural birthright of man to physical freedom. He states that civil society does nothing to enforce the equality and individual liberty that were promised to man when he entered into that society. For Rousseau, the only legitimate political authority is the authority consented to by all the people, who have agreed to such government by entering into a social contract for the sake of their mutual preservation.

According to him development in a state happens when efforts are directed towards the common preservation and general well-being of the citizens. The pursuit of the common good, then, enables the state to act as a moral community.

This is where Gandhi’s philosophy differs from Rousseau’s. In Sarvodaya, there is no centralized authority. Politics is not an instrument of power but instead an agency of service. According to him, people must be filled with the spirit of love, fraternity, truth, non-violence, and self-sacrifice. There is no party system and majority rule hence society will be free from the evil of the majority policy.