Rousseau's contributions to socialism.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) is often overlooked as a founder of socialist thought. This thesis attempts to correct this oversight by defining central themes within socialism ostensively using Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Karl Marx (1818-1883) as exemplars and then comparing their ideas to those of Rousseau. The themes that emerge from a review of Owen's and Marx's critiques are that capitalist society leads to personal and social alienation. A review of Rousseau's critiques of commercial society shows that he similarly argued that commercial society leads to personal and social alienation. In light of the similarities between Rousseau and two well known social thinkers, the thesis concludes that Rousseau was a proto-socialist and that his writings represent an important contribution to the development of socialist thought. However, the thesis also reviews some of the central differences among the three thinkers. --Leaf ii.