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Rousseau on Rousseau: The Individual and Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Ann McArdle
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Extract

Rousseau's Confessions is generally regarded simply as his autobiography or, more precisely, as his apology—his defense of his character and conduct against the attacks of his enemies. Yet he himself claims that the work is philosophically significant; the Confessions is intended to be an account of man as he is according to nature. This essay will attempt to uncover the philosophical import of the Confessions especially as it bears upon the question of the individual and society. The Introduction will establish the philosophical context within which Rousseau places his enterprises and will point to the contemporary political significances of that enterprise. In the second section, Rousseau's understanding of himself as a “natural man” will be examined. The third section will show the radical character of the tension between the individual and society as this tension follows from Rousseau's account of the nature of man. Finally, the root of Rousseau's understanding of the political problem having been exposed, Rousseau's status as the champion of the individual's claims against society will be seen to be highly problematic. That is, Rousseau will show himself to be far more critical of contemporary political- and self-consciousness than is generally thought to be the case.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 250 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1977

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References

1 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Les Confessions in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Oeuvres complètes, eds. Gagnebin, Bernard and Raymond, Marcel, vol. 1: Les Confessions: Autres textes autobiographiques (Paris, 1959), 3, p. 128Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., 1, p. 39.

3 “Living in the opinions of others” is Rousseau's characterization of the being of civilized (sociable) man.

4 Rousseau, , Confessions, 1, p. 5Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., 2, p. 85; 3, pp. 120, 128.

6 Rousseau often draws attention to his poor memory. See, for example, Confessions, 7, p. 277; 8, p. 398. Concerning the question of Rousseau's frankness, see Starobinski, Jean, La transparence et l'obstacle (Paris, 1971), especially chap. 7Google Scholar. With reference to the related question of “distance,” see Derrida, Jacques, De la grammatologie (Paris, 1967), pt. 2, chap. 2Google Scholar, and de Man, Paul, Blindness and Insight (New York, 1971), chap. 7Google Scholar.

7 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Quatre lettres à M. le Président de Malesherbes, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Oeuvres complètes, eds. Gagenebin, and Raymond, , vol. 1: Les Confessions: Autres textes autobiographiques (Paris, 1959), p. 1134Google Scholar.

8 Rousseau, , Confessions, 7, p. 278Google Scholar. Burgelin, Pierre in his La philosophie de l'existence de J.-J. Rousseau (Paris, 1952), p. 576Google Scholar, and Cassirer, Ernst in The Question of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, trans, and ed. Gay, Peter (Bloomington, 1963), p. 50Google Scholar, understand Rousseau's return to the state of nature as a turning within.

9 Ibid., p. 279.

10 Ibid., 8, p. 374.

11 Ibid., 11, p. 547.

12 Ibid., p. 568.

13 Ibid., 6, p. 243.

14 Ibid., 2, p. 69.

15 Ibid., 8, p. 393.

16 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Oeuvres complèutes, eds. Gagnebin, and Raymond, , vol. 3: Du Contrat social; Écrits politiques (Paris, 1964), pt. 1, p. 143Google Scholar.

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21 Augustine, Confessions 11.29.

22 Ibid., 10.8.

23 Ibid., 11.30.

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25 Ibid., 4, p. 175.

28 Ibid., 7, p. 278.

27 Ibid., 6, p. 272. For a discussion of Rousseau's understanding of “human time” see Poulet, Georges, Studies in Human Time, trans, by Coleman, Elliott (Baltimore, 1956)Google Scholar.

28 Ibid., 5, p. 218.

29 Ibid., 8, p. 388.

30 Ibid., 1, p. 5.

31 Augustine, Confessions 9.1.

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33 Ibid., 1, p. 43; 4, p. 146.

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35 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Essai sur l'origine des langues (A. Belin, 1817Google Scholar; reprint ed., Paris: Copedith, 1970), chap. 16, p. 537.

36 Ibid., p. 536.

37 Rousseau, , Confessions, 1, p. 5Google Scholar.

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44 Ibid., 1, p. 38.

45 Ibid., 6, p. 244.

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47 Rousseau, , Discours sur I'inégalité, pt. 2, p. 166Google Scholar.

48 Ibid., pp. 172–3.

49 Ibid., p. 169.

50 Rousseau, , Confessions, 1, p. 41Google Scholar.

51 Ibid., 5, p. 219.

52 Ibid. 11, p. 585.

53 Ibid., 7, p. 278.

54 Ibid., 3, p. 108.

55 Ibid., 6, p. 263.

56 Ibid., 7, p. 333.

57 Ibid., 12, p. 645.

58 Rousseau, , Discours sur l'inégalité, pt. 2, pp. 192–3Google Scholar.

59 Ibid., pt. 1, p. 158.

60 Ibid., p. 144.

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63 Ibid., p. 8.

64 Ibid., p. 9.

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66 In connection with the radical tension between individual and society é see especially Strauss, Leo, Natural Right and History (Chicago, 1953), chap. 6Google Scholar and “On the Intention of Rousseau,” in Hobbes and Rousseau: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Cranston, Maurice and Peters, Richard S., Modern Studies in Philosophy (Garden City, New York, 1972)Google Scholar, also in Social Research 14 (1947)Google Scholar, and Greothuysen, B., J. J. Rousseau, 18th ed. (Paris, 1949)Google Scholar.

67 Rousseau, , Confessions, 1, p. 39Google Scholar.

68 Ibid., 3, p. 128.