Whilst it is all rather breathless and cross, there are arguments so work out first what they are on the most charitable interpretation. Whilst you read it first try to work out what arguments Rousseau advances. Dent: London, 1913)Īn online version (ie not that particular edition) can be found here:Īnd you need to read part of the 'Second Part' starting at its beginning and going as far as "I well know that children ought to be kept employed." Rousseau ‘Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts And Sciences’ in the Everyman edition of The Social Contract (J.M. Romanticism always includes an element of pessimism: a melancholy acceptance of human limitations. The view that knowledge is not the solution to all human problems, doesn’t help us solve all our problems, and doesn’t necessarily lead us to happiness, which marks Rousseau out as a romantic thinker. But according to Rousseau not only is knowledge not necessarily ennobling, it is in fact a corrupting influence.
Knowledge necessarily makes us better people. According to the enlightenment view knowledge is essentially ennobling. This is essentially a reaction against the enlightenment view that reason can be extended into all spheres of human activity, not just into science and technology, but also into politics, government, and the arts. Rousseau belongs to the broad cultural movement known as romanticism. However, despite the fact that he never concentrated whole-heartedly on philosophy, his writings had a profound philosophical and political impact.
Rousseau wasn’t simply a philosopher, he was also a writer, a novelist, and a musician. Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1712.
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