Excerpt from Term Paper:

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According to Rousseau, there is no such thing as the right to give up ones natural rights

by becoming a slave to an other for several reasons: first, because the concept of slavery,

by definition, completely contradicts the very idea of rights; second, even if a person does

have that right himself, nothing legitimizes his right to do so for his family or his

children, because doing so automatically violates their rights:
The words slave and right contradict each other, and are mutually exclusive


It will always be equally foolish for a man to say to a man or to a people: I make


with you a convention wholly at your expense and wholly to my advantage; I shall


keep it as long as I like, and you will keep it as long as I like. To say that a man


gives himself gratuitously, is to say what is absurd and inconceivable; such an act


is null and illegitimate


In refuting the right of any person to make that choice for others, Rousseau

explains that the parental right is limited to certain types of decisions (such as during

childhood) but that even parental rights are

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