Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In this paper, I present the problem of the poor king, from combining Descartes and Rousseau.

Article où l'on propose une lecture égologique de la botanique rousseauiste. La botanique certifierait la continuité temporelle d'un moi menacé de fragmentation.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau remains an important figure in the history of philosophy, both because of his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology and because of his influence on later thinkers. Rousseau's own view of philosophy and philosophers was firmly negative, seeing philosophers as the post-hoc rationalizers of self-interest, as apologists for various forms of tyranny, and as playing a role in the alienation of the modern individual from humanity's natural impulse to compassion. The concern that dominates Rousseau's work is to (...) find a way of preserving human freedom in a world where human beings are increasingly dependent on one another for the satisfaction of their needs. This concern has two dimensions: material and psychological, of which the latter has greater importance. In the modern world, human beings come to derive their very sense of self from the opinion of others, a fact which Rousseau sees as corrosive of freedom and destructive of individual authenticity. In his mature work, he principally explores two routes to achieving and protecting freedom: the first is a political one aimed at constructing political institutions that allow for the co-existence of free and equal citizens in a community where they themselves are sovereign; the second is a project for child development and education that fosters autonomy and avoids the development of the most destructive forms of self-interest. However, though Rousseau believes the co-existence of human beings in relations of equality and freedom is possible, he is consistently and overwhelmingly pessimistic that humanity will escape from a dystopia of alienation, oppression, and unfreedom. In addition to his contributions to philosophy, Rousseau was active as a composer and a music theorist, as the pioneer of modern.. (shrink)

Rousseau’s account of the “legislator” or “lawgiver” is commonly regarded as one of the most far-fetched, ominous, and baffling parts of his teaching in the Social Contract. In brief, Rousseau’s lawgiver seems to be a proto-totalitarian figure whose self-appointed mission is to found a political community by “denaturing” people at a single stroke and who may be a mere figment of Rousseau’s overheated imagination. Accordingly, this part of the Social Contract threatens to make a mockery of Rousseau’s claim to be (...) “taking men as they are and laws they can be,” as well as his claim that the combination of “ freedom and equality” is “the greatest good” in the civil state. Following and extending Rousseau’s own method of teaching by examples, however, this essay argues that Benjamin Franklin’s influence over the American republic—especially through his posthumous Autobiography—offers a prosaic example of the apparently fantastical phenomenon sketched by Rousseau. In fact, I argue that Franklin’s case corresponds more fully to Rousseau’s description than do any of Rousseau’s own examples (such as Moses, Lycurgus, and Numa) and that Franklin showed in practice what Rousseau suggested in theory: that a lawgiver can succeed without relying on coercion and without undercutting the equality that underlies a just society. Franklin’s denaturing influence, I suggest, has been crucial for the durability of republicanism in the United States, given the country’s size and diversity. (shrink)

It is common to assimilate Marx’s and Spinoza’s conceptions of democracy. In this chapter, I assess the relation between Marx’s early idea of “true democracy” and Spinozist democracy, both the historical influence and the theoretical affinity. Drawing on Marx’s student notebooks on Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise, I show there was a historical influence. However, at the theoretical level, I argue that a sharp distinction must be drawn. Philosophically, Spinoza’s commitment to understanding politics through real concrete powers does not support with Marx’s (...) anti-institutional conception of true democracy. And as a matter of social theory, the gap between civil society and the state which so troubles Marx is a development of modernity that has not entered Spinoza's premodern field of view. Marx’s true democracy was also influenced by his study of Rousseau, and theoretically, it is just as close if not closer to Rousseau as to Spinoza. (shrink)

Kant ascribes two radically different kinds of language—symbolic or pictorial (qua intuitive) and discursive languages—to the “Oriental” and “Occidental” peoples respectively. By his analysis, having a merely symbolic language suggests that the “Orientals” lack understanding—and hence the ability to form concepts and think in abstracto—as well as genius and spirit. Meanwhile, he establishes discursive language as a sine qua non of the continued progress of humanity, primarily because only by means of words—as opposed to symbols—can one think (not just intuit), (...) signify one’s thoughts exactly, and make them universally communicable. Without such a language, one would not be able to make one’s feelings moral or develop a true moral character. In short, humanity would not be able to obtain its cultural or moral ends without discursive language. -/- These points add up to an exclusionary view of progress according to which the Occidental whites alone are equipped with the requisite discursive skills and other talents (including genius and spirit) to accomplish advanced culture and pursue humanity’s moral destiny. The “Orient,” with its “childish language,” is consigned to the childhood of humanity. In holding this view, Kant has departed from some of his predecessors—such as Leibniz, whose vision of the future of humanity includes an East-West harmony facilitated by a “universal symbolism,” and Rousseau, who exalts a livelier connection with the world mediated by a pictorial language. -/- The contrast with Leibniz and Rousseau also suggests that we cannot chalk up Kant’s exclusionary view of progress to mere personal prejudices. His philosophy is what gives meaning to his statements about the nature of the “Oriental” language. That is, the exclusionary view of progress emerges only when we take into account his anti-Leibnizian conceptualization of symbolic language as merely intuitive, his view that humanity is teleologically oriented toward the unique sort of moralization that he envisioned in the Groundwork, and his view that reason must lead the way in humanity’s progress toward this supposed moral end, wherefore only discursive language can facilitate such progress. (shrink)

« Je me croyais grec ou romain » écrit Rousseau de son enfance genevoise, durant laquelle le patriotisme de son père, son statut privilégié de citoyen et ses lectures de Plutarque se confondent en une même exaltation pour la vertu antique. La pensée politique de Rousseau semble ainsi pétrie de références à une Antiquité exemplaire et fantasmée – à Sparte, tout particulièrement. Elle s’est à ce titre régulièrement vu reprocher son anachronisme. Benjamin Constant, de façon célèbre, accuse Rouss...

Rousseau's conception of virtue is puzzling, for he sometimes defines virtue as self-mastery and sometimes as patriotism. The prevailing Kantian interpretation emphasizes the first definition with its man-citizen thesis, while attributing the latter to Rousseau's inconsistency. This article challenges this reading and argues that Rousseau intentionally operates with two conceptions of virtue: political virtue as love of fatherland and moral virtue as love of humanity. While the former relies on a state-level amour-propre that draws motivation from the division between nations, (...) the latter hinges on conscience—an intelligent form of amour de soi—that reaches universal humanity. Underlying the two virtues is the irreconcilable tension between nature and politics. Where nature demands universal happiness incorporating all humans, politics necessitates passions that entail division. Retrieving Rousseau's dual conception of virtue highlights Rousseau's fundamental pessimism toward human politics, which has been blurred in the emerging Kantian-liberal scholarship. (shrink)

Flora Champy shows how Rousseau developed his political philosophy by reference to ancient examples, intertexts, and interlocutors. Her literary methodology involves close readings of published tex...

For Rousseau, humankind is in a perpetual state of decay—decadency from an earlier, natural, primitive, and perfect state. For Rousseau, the natural man, or man in the state of beast, was of an era where humankind was unencumbered by that which is now entirely associated with society—that is, “. . . establishment of laws and of the right of property . . . the institution of magistracy . . . and the conversion of legitimate into arbitrary power.” For Kant, humankind (...) is in its natural state. For Kant, nature brings about conditions that continually develop and refine humankind’s dispositions, purposefully setting about societies in order to facilitate a foundation within all civilized society, whereby all of humankind’s goals may be achieved. All matters have their place—placed there by nature, as though with purpose. For Kant, nature intended for humankind to employ reason, to acquiesce to coercion for social cohesion, and to strive to build a society that is ever-increasingly progressing towards perfection. Nature uses humankind’s dispositions, including ‘antagonistic’ behavior to gradually bring about a, “perfectly just civil constitution.” Humankind’s highest goal yet to be achieved is for that just civil constitution to emerge from trial and error (in the form of wars, revolutions, secessions, abdications), over time, ultimately providing for development of other dispositions within a perfect society. (shrink)

Mit Montesquieu und Voltaire gehört Jean-Jacques Rousseau zu den französischen Autoren des 18. Jahrhunderts, die einen großen Teil der Lektürezeit des jungen Alexis de Tocqueville eingenommen und die sein Denken zumindest beeinflusst haben. In einem Brief an Louis de Kergorlay aus dem Jahr 1836, schreibt Tocqueville seinem Freund, dass es drei Menschen gibt, mit denen er jeden Tag lebt, nämlich Pascal (s. Kap. 37), Montesquieu (s. Kap. 36) und Rousseau (OC XIII, 1, 418). Tocqueville liest diese Autoren nicht nur wegen (...) ihrer Gedanken, sondern auch wegen ihres Stils. Setzt er auch Voltaire in dieser Hinsicht an die erste Stelle, so zeigt er doch auch eine große Bewunderung für den Stil Rousseaus, vor allem in den Confessions (OC VI, 2, 346). (shrink)

Curso de Geografia de Jean-Jacques Rousseau integra o X volume da edição de OEuvres complètes de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Édition thématique du Tricentenaire, Slatkine/Honoré Champion (2012), subintitulado Escritos Científicos. Para esta tradução, além do texto consagrado na edição do tricentenário, também utilizamos a edição norte-americana dos textos de Rousseau organizada por Christopher Kelly, intitulada Autobiographical, scientific, religious, moral, and literary writings (2007). Preservamos, integralmente, as indispensáveis notas ao texto em língua francesa, que são de autoria de Christophe Van Staen.

In this paper, I consider what it might mean to approach boredom as a problem of post-history, rather than of modernity as such. Post-history, or ‘end of history’, in this sense, is linked with the impossibility or unlikelihood of political-systemic change, and thus with the disappearance of the contingency or temporal flux that had been understood as the context or prerequisite of political action and political freedom. I will, argue, firstly, that both Rousseau and Fukuyama depict societies that are ‘post-historical’, (...) in this sense, and which are marked by ‘boredom’ of this specifically post-historical kind. Secondly, I will argue that both thinkers link post-historical boredom with the disappearance or diminution of the ‘drive for recognition’ that both understood as both an agent and effect of ‘history’. Thirdly, I will argue that while Fukuyama understands post-historical boredom as an ‘irritant’ that threatens to restart history without quite succeeding in doing so, Rousseau understands it as an essentially stabilising (and happy) condition that maintains post-historical man in an equilibrium modelled on the order of nature itself. And fourthly, I consider certain ways in which this ‘post-historical’ boredom might coexist and overlap with the ‘promise of intensity’ experienced in post-Fordist neoliberal society. (shrink)

In this paper, I consider what it might mean to approach boredom as a problem of post-history, rather than of modernity as such. Post-history, or ‘end of history’, in this sense, is linked with the impossibility or unlikelihood of political-systemic change, and thus with the disappearance of the contingency or temporal flux that had been understood as the context or prerequisite of political action and political freedom. I will, argue, firstly, that both Rousseau and Fukuyama depict societies that are ‘post-historical’, (...) in this sense, and which are marked by ‘boredom’ of this specifically post-historical kind. Secondly, I will argue that both thinkers link post-historical boredom with the disappearance or diminution of the ‘drive for recognition’ that both understood as both an agent and effect of ‘history’. Thirdly, I will argue that while Fukuyama understands post-historical boredom as an ‘irritant’ that threatens to restart history without quite succeeding in doing so, Rousseau understands it as an essentially stabilising (and happy) condition that maintains post-historical man in an equilibrium modelled on the order of nature itself. And fourthly, I consider certain ways in which this ‘post-historical’ boredom might coexist and overlap with the ‘promise of intensity’ experienced in post-Fordist neoliberal society. (shrink)

Tradução do artigo “Jean-Jacques Rousseau et sa politique”, de Eric Weil.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's main work in political philosophy, the _Social Contract_, contains two beginnings; on the one hand, it commences, quite conventionally, with a social contract between individuals, on the other hand it also states that a lawmaker needs to precede the agreement of such a contract. This curious co-existence of two beginnings in the text has usually been ignored or played down by interpreters. This article, on the other hand, presents a reading of their interplay inspired by Zizek's theory of (...) ideology. It demonstrates how one of the beginnings, if seen from this point of view, may be understood as the truth about the other, and how the figure of the lawmaker specifically reveals the text as torn apart by contradictory internal tendencies. (shrink)

O Essai sur l’Origine des Langues integra o conjunto das reflexões de Rousseau destinadas ainfluenciar a intelligentsia moderna, num campo, o da especulação sobre a linguagem, que cada vezmais passou a interessar os que, como ele, se empenhavam em produzir uma reforma do conteúdo dossaberes com vistas a estabelecer os princípios norteadores duma pretendida renovação das artes e dasciências. Os tópicos tratados aqui dizem respeito a temas considerados ao mesmo tempocontemporâneos ao autor e, supõe-se, aos leitores atuais da obra. Para (...) se ter uma ideia mais clara doque se pretende discutir, optou-se por resenhar os pontos do Essai que têm relação com os objetivosperseguidos e em seguida passar à discussão propriamente dita. (shrink)

There is a whole tradition of studies that has superimposed a mythical structure on the concepts of the “savage” in the pure state of nature, and of the American peoples who are also called “savages”: the myth of the “good savage”, the golden age, the terrestrial paradise, etc. Despite the efforts made by other authors to dispel this interpretation, it has not been shown that it jeopardises the central thesis of Rousseau’s anthropology: the defence of natural goodness. We are interested (...) here precisely in uncovering these risks, which may be, at least in part, the result of a biased reading of Derrida’s Grammatology. (shrink)

A partir de uma revisão bibliográfica do século XVIII, resgataremos elementos que estavam naraiz da concepção universalista de homem desse século, como pertencente ao continuum da natureza.Com recurso aos métodos da antropologia estrutural, analisaremos nosso objeto que está situado nosdomínios do pensamento científico do século XVIII. O principal objetivo consistirá em identificar erecuperar a influência de alguns “mitos” acerca de seres antropomorfos, recuperando a origem dealgumas representações gráficas desses seres. A partir de algumas fontes de Rousseau e seuscontemporâneos, esboçaremos algumas (...) versões desses mitos para, ao final, aplicarmos recursos a queLévi-Strauss recorreu diante de elementos sincrônicos e anacrônicos de sua análise do mitemas. (shrink)

Wiek osiemnasty – wiek rozumności, wyzwalania umysłu z błędów, doskonalenia i rozwoju ludzkości – często uważa się także za szczególnie istotny czas postępowej dyskusji o kobiecie, jej roli społecznej, czas torujący drogę do jej instytucjonalnej edukacji i w konsekwencji emancypacji. Analizując treści prac znaczących myślicieli Oświecenia, należy jednak dojść do wniosku, że Kantowskie słowa wskazujące jako ideę przewodnią Oświecenia: „Odważ się posługiwać własnym rozumem!”, nie odnoszą się do kobiety. Podmiotem myślenia filozoficznego pozostaje mężczyzna, choć używany w dziełach filozoficznych tego okresu (...) z upodobaniem i konsekwencją termin „człowiek” może pozornie wskazywać na ogólne zainteresowanie obiema płciami i równe traktowanie mężczyzn i kobiet. Kobiety nadal postrzega się jako istoty niższe pod względem umysłowym. Umieszcza się je w pułapce małżeństwa rozumianego jako związek tworzący „jedną osobę moralną”, czy też „jedną osobę duchową”. Zmiany w edukacji kobiet, choć w dobie Oświecenia się dokonały, nadal polegają na kontroli wiedzy im przekazywanej, a nadto wiedzy ukierunkowanej na uformowanie określonych cech związanych z rolą żony i matki. Wskazane zagadnienia w artykule są rozważane na przykładzie trzech myślicieli Oświecenia: J.-J. Rousseau, I. Kanta oraz H. Kołłątaja. (shrink)

Rousseau’s Confessions is written in the first person and addressed directly to God. Augustine’s work is an extended prayer and intimate conversation with a divine beloved. In the 16th century, groups of Christians broke with the Roman Catholic Church to start their Christian movements, but they, too, continued to consult Augustine. Augustine’s work, including The Confessions, has also contributed significantly to Western philosophy. A few examples include his insights about knowledge and illumination, the importance and centrality of will, subsequently taken (...) up by the likes of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the fathers of existentialist philosophy, and his novel ideas about the march of human history. His ruthless self-scrutiny in The Confessions reflects a great understanding of the human psyche, while his view that humans are made for love continues to inspire readers. (shrink)

I examine chapters I and II of the Dialectic of Pure Practical Reason from the Critique of Practical Reason, to show that Kant resolved the antimony of practical reason by first giving an accurate representation of the cause of a properly moral act and then recognizing that this accurate representation raised further problems, problems that were anticipated by Rousseau, especially in his Reveries of a Solitary Walker. Rousseau’s reveries allowed Kant to explore, and to some extent overcome, the darker implications (...) of their common understanding of virtue. In the second Critique this takes the form of explaining how one can understand and existentially achieve one’s own satisfaction based on contentment with oneself rather than enjoyment. (shrink)

I should like to begin this paper by thanking Anik Waldow for drawing my attention to a debate between Jean Jacques Rousseau and the philosophes about the proposal to build a theatre in Geneva, wit...

W artykule wykazuję, że życie i twórczość Jana Jakuba Rousseau w kuriozalny sposób wpisują się w schemat tragedii greckiej. Jest to teatr jednego aktora, inspirowany przedstawieniami pierwszego tragika Tespisa. Rousseau przez całe życie z wielkim patosem gra przed światem rolę cierpiętnika, który jako człowiek jest ciemiężony przez ludzi. We wszystkich jego tekstach chodzi tylko o jego własną, jednostkowo pojętą wolność. Rzekomo broniąc tej wolności, Rousseau nakłada wiele teatralnych masek i wciela się w Boga oraz w wiele fikcyjnych postaci, dzięki którym (...) chce zmienić świat na taki, który lepiej odpowiadałby jego potrzebom. Dwa główne dzieła Jana Jakuba, _Umowa społeczna _i _Emil_, powstałe w tym samym czasie, są dramatyczną próbą połączenia _polis _z _oikos _i odtworzenia indywidualnego raju utraconego. Niebawem jego paranoja osiąga apogeum i Rousseau czuje się ofiarą powszechnego spisku przeciw niemu i czyni szaleńcze próby zachowania dla potomnych swego patologicznego dzieła, w którym występuje jako sędzia we własnej sprawie. W _Przechadzkach samotnego myśliciela _wreszcie trafia do swojego raju, ale to oznacza, że zupełnie traci kontakt z rzeczywistością i ulega iluzorycznemu utożsamieniu z wielbioną przez siebie naturą. Występując na wyimaginowanej scenie, Rousseau pewnie nie uświadamia sobie faktu, że sam jest ciemiężycielem bliskich mu osób. Cynicznie wykorzystuje bowiem sprzyjających mu ludzi, by osiągnąć życiowy sukces i potwierdzić swoją niezwykłą wielkość, oraz oddaje własne dzieci do przytułku, by nie przeszkadzały mu w karierze. W ten sposób dyskredytuje się jako człowiek i ponosi klęskę jako tragiczny twórca, ponieważ działa pod wpływem pychy (_hybris_) i nie umie adekwatnie ocenić sytuacji, w jakiej się znalazł (_hamartia_). Być może oczyszczenie z win (_katharsis_) przyniosłoby mu poddanie się medycznej terapii wodnej dla maniaków, o której pisze Foucault w _Historii szaleństwa w dobie klasycyzmu_. Rousseau jednak z niej nie korzysta, a w jego czasach nie jest jeszcze stosowana psychoanaliza Freuda, która pozwoliłaby mu opowiedzieć terapeucie wszystkie swoje sny o potędze, uwolnić się od stłumionych pragnień oraz fantazji i w końcu powrócić do świata normalnych ludzi, jako człowiek bez manii wielkości i manii prześladowczej. (shrink)

O presente texto tem como objetivo central analisar a relação entre progresso das artes e ciências e a corrupção da virtude no Discurso sobre as Ciências e Artes de Rousseau. Para tanto, buscamos estabelecer o sentido do conceito de virtude na obra, que retoma a tradição republicana. Por fim, analisando as respostas de Rousseau às críticas da obra, buscamos argumentar que o filósofo não pretende eliminar as artes e ciências da sociedade moderna.

One could describe political philosophy from the Enlightenment to the present, or at least until World War II, as largely an exercise in defining true freedom, as well as a call to liberate the mas...

This introductory article outlines how this special issue contributes to existing scholarship that calls for a rethinking and re-evaluation of common assumptions about early modern philosophy. One way of challenging existing narratives is by questioning what role systems or systematicity play during this period. Another way of rethinking early modern philosophy is by considering assumptions about the role of philosophy itself and how philosophy can effect change in those who form philosophical beliefs or engage in philosophical argumentation. A further way (...) of advancing early modern scholarship is by examining the tight links between early modern views on metaphysics and epistemology, on the one hand, and moral, social, and political philosophy, on the other hand. Moreover, there are ongoing debates whether and how the traditional distinction between rationalism and empiricism, which has been questioned for several reasons, should be replaced. It has been proposed to replace it with a distinction between experimental and speculative philosophy, but this distinction cannot easily accommodate early modern debates concerning moral, social, and political philosophy. In addition to highlighting several ways how early modern philosophy has and can be rethought, we summarize how the papers in this special issue contribute to these ongoing efforts. (shrink)

Preface -- Introduction : after the cave -- Part I. The life of philosophy and the life of Rousseau; The reveries of the solitary walker : an introduction -- Part II. "What am I?" : first walk; "A faithful record" : second walk; Becoming a philosopher : third walk; Being a philosopher : fourth, fifth, and sixth walks; Becoming a more perfect philosopher : seventh, eighth, and ninth walks; Coda : the love of wisdom and the wisdom of love : (...) tenth walk. . (shrink)

Abstract:In book 5 of his historically controversial autobiography, the Confessions, Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes his involvement in a perfectly harmonious ménage à trois centered around the charming Mme. de Warens. Despite his assertions to the contrary, however, the text indicates that Rousseau harbored jealous feelings and banked on Mme. de Warens's passion for music to gain an edge over his rival, Claude Anet. But Rousseau's apparently sincere denial of jealous feelings and lost hold over Mme. de Warens's romantic imagination after Anet's (...) sudden death might have been related to the philosophical life, which often demands and imposes solitude. (shrink)

Resumo: O presente artigo visa esclarecer o conceito de história em Rousseau, em especial, no Discurso sobre a origem e os fundamentos da desigualdade entre os homens e o Contrato Social. Examina não apenas os processos envolvidos no segundo discurso, como também os momentos da filosofia de Rousseau em que ele define a história. Com essa finalidade, é retomado o cenário do movimento Iluminista acerca do conceito, para, comparativamente, distinguir a noção histórica de Rousseau dos demais iluministas como uma definição (...) de progresso material e da degeneração moral do homem. Para compreender melhor toda conjuntura e elucidar a questão, fez-se necessário perpassar pelo conceito de história no segundo discurso, buscando quais foram as causas que levaram a história ao declínio, adentrando em discernimentos da perfectibilidade e da passagem do estado de natureza à civilização, além dos considerados progressos da técnica e da ciência, e, por fim, o questionamento de caminhos para se pensar a história posto todas às problemáticas. Palavras chave: história, progresso, iluminismo, degeneração. Abstract: This article aims to clarify the concept of history in Rousseau's works, particularly in the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men and The Social Contract. It also examines not only the historical processes involved in the second discourse, but also moments in Rousseau’s philosophy that he defines history. To achieve this, the article revisits the Enlightenment's discourse on the concept of history to comparatively distinguish Rousseau's historical notion from other Enlightenment thinkers' definitions of material progress and moral man's degeneration. To better understand the whole context and elucidate the issue, it was necessary to explore the concept of history in the second discourse, looking for the causes that led to the decline of history, delving into discernments of perfectibility and the transition from the state of nature to civilization, in addition to the considered progress of technique and science, and finally, questioning ways to think about history given all the problems. Keywords: history, progress, Enlightenment, degeneration. (shrink)

The roots of the ideal of authenticity in modern Western thought are numerous and complex. In this article, I explore their development in relation to Rousseau’s paradoxical conclusion that complete satisfaction is an aspiration that not only cannot be fulfilled but whose actual realization will make a person miserable. I argue that there is an unresolved tension between the notion of humans as creatures who by nature strive to eliminate suffering to achieve static serenity and the idea that their natural (...) goal in society is to constantly change and enrich themselves. The purpose of this article is not to construct another pessimistic interpretation according to which our most profound desire – happiness – cannot be achieved, but rather, by understanding natural inequality as a historical phenomenon, to shed light on Rousseau’s idea that happiness should be rejected because it contradicts the new foundation of morality: the realization of people’s uniqueness. (shrink)

Although Rousseau did not care much about the Americans, the Americans did and still do care a lot about Rousseau. Surprisingly, for someone so eager to offer advice about how to form or reform a c...

Quizá no sea desacertado destacar que cuando Étienne Balibar afirma que el sujeto-ciudadano rousseauniano constituye una «figura propiamente revolucionaria», no está simplemente mencionándolo desde una perspectiva teórico-política, pues está haciendo ver que la dualidad que comporta supone una figura revolucionaria en un sentido lingüístico y especulativo. En este artículo, nuestro propósito no es otro que analizar el triple alcance de la «invención teórica de Rousseau». Que las significaciones conceptuales no puedan ser simples o unívocas, es lo que en buena medida (...) intentaremos poner de relieve siguiendo su interpretación de algunas de las nociones medulares del Contrato social de Rousseau. (shrink)

This paper demonstrates how ideology plays a major, but previously neglected role in Rousseau's treatment of politics in the Social Contract. Specifically, it shows how a number of key elements in his line of argument come close to ideology criticism as it is conceived in Louis Althusser's theory of ideological state apparatuses. This is the case not just in relation to the distinction between general will and particular will, but also in relation to such concepts as property and social contract. (...) However, the paper also demonstrates how this pre-Marxist understanding of ideology co-exists in the text with a different and more primitive understanding of ideology which is incompatible with Marxism and which points back to Rousseau's previous discourse on the origins of inequality. The paper concludes that while there are definitely elements in Rousseau's text which point toward a future development of the theme of ideology in Marxist theory, the Social Contract on the whole is characterized by heterogeneity on this topic. (shrink)

In Feb. 2022 Sungho Kimlee passed away. In his memory, we present this revised and abridged version of a portion of his dissertation, Factions and Orders: from Machiavelli to Madison. Sungho summarized the work as follows: “Since antiquity, thinkers have held that every society consists of two hostile orders – the few and the many. But they have disagreed on the proper method for defusing this civic divide, and their various proposed remedies can be classified into three approaches. The first (...) approach aims to eliminate the division between the rich and the poor by abolishing private property. Plato’s Republic inaugurated this method, which was later embraced with ambivalence by Thomas More and vigorously defended by Karl Marx. The second approach merely aims to contain the harmful effects of the binary civic divide. Plato proposed two methods for accomplishing this in the Laws: Plutarch championed the first method, and Aristotle the second. My dissertation traces the genealogy of the third approach – the method of supplanting the binary civic divide with more numerous divisions. This oft-neglected method was pioneered by Rousseau, who prescribed the creation of artificial divisions by the state as a remedy for majority factions. (shrink)

In this essay, I examine Kant’s interpretation of Rousseau through the lens of Reflection 6593. This Reflection deserves scrutiny because it serves as a bridge between Kant’s well-known engagement with Rousseau in the mid-1760s and his later discussions of the vocation of the human being in the lectures on ethics and anthropology. Through a close reading of R 6593, I argue that the Reflection offers the earliest evidence of Kant’s philosophy of history and its integration into his treatment of the (...) human vocation. This change, I propose, is instigated by Rousseau’s “Abstract” of St. Pierre’s Perpetual Peace. I conclude that R 6593 is a crucial indicator of Kant’s evolving views on Rousseau and shows his enduring importance for understanding the formation of Kant’s mature political thought. (shrink)

This article aims to reveal the semantic dynamics of narratives on Rousseau in Kyiv academic philosophy of the 19th and early 20th centuries. through the separation of the informational layer from the rhetorical one in their content and the identification of hidden (unarticulated) elements that determined both the general nature of the narrative and the evaluative judgments of the narrators. Based on archival primary sources and printed editions (mostly bibliographic rarities), a historical and philosophic study of the narratives on Jean-Jacques (...) Rousseau and his philosophy of education performed, which were created and broadcast by professors of Kyiv Theological Academy and St.Volodymyr University Pamfil Yurkevych, Sylvester Gogotskyi, Markellin Olesnitskyi, Mykola Makkaveiskyi, Oleksandr Selikhanovych, and Vasyl Zenkovskyi. Keeping almost the same informational core, the narratives of Kyiv academicians on Rousseau differ significantly in terms of rhetoric. While the “older generation” goes into philosophical criticism of the pedagogical ideas of the Swiss thinker as the Stranger, the “younger ones”, limiting themselves to remarks about their controversial nature, represent him as the Self. This difference is due to both personal factors and institutional conditions for the development of Kyiv academic philosophy, as well as changes in the general political situation in the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (shrink)

Dans la préface aux Confessions, Rousseau déclare se donner en comparaison pour l’étude des hommes qui reste encore à faire. Plus que le récit d’une vie singulière et plus qu’une plaidoirie, l’entreprise autobiographique rousseauiste aurait donc aussi une vocation anthropologique. Mais comment concevoir un tel procédé comparatif et comment définir la connaissance qu’il vise dans la mesure où Rousseau lui-même ne cesse par ailleurs d’associer comparaison et amour-propre? Dès lors, nous verrons que si l’écriture de soi s’inscrit dans une perspective (...) anthropologique, celle-ci ne saurait être coupée de l’ambition éthique et morale portée par l’auteur. (shrink)