Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712–1778)

The cultural critic, political philosopher, novelist, pedagogue, and composer Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born June 28, 1712, in Geneva, Switzerland, and died July 2, 1778, in Ermenonville, France. Rousseau is regarded as one of the most important critics of modernity. In analyzing modern society, he discusses various aspects of time, such as the origins of humankind and its basic traits and the acceleration of civil life and time as a political factor. According to Rousseau, processes in modern society are too rapid and ought to be slowed down.

Rousseau attained fame with his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750), which was a response to a prize question by the Academy of Dijon, asking whether the sciences and arts contribute to the corruption or to improvement of morals. Rousseau's essay presents a radical critique of the idea of social progress that appears in the Age of Enlightenment. Sciences and arts, he argues, will not bring about a better society. They have their origin in human vices and are symptomatic of a lack of virtues. In all eras, the attempt to escape from ignorance leads to slavery and intemperance. Rousseau appreciates the virtues of the plain man who condemns sciences. In his criticism of contemporary society, he contrasts it with the ideal of an earlier, golden age of mankind when life and virtues were supposedly pure.

Rousseau's second discourse, On the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1754), seems to intend a reversal of modernity, too. He describes the development of human species, which at the same time is a process of degeneration. In doing so he is interested not only in giving a history of humankind but also in analyzing the timeframe when the basis of human traits emerges. Reason and language are not essential for human beings. They are not consistent in time; they are rather the results of a random process.

The thesis of Rousseau's essay is that the origins of social inequality and human corruption are to be found in the structures of civil society and not in human nature. As a proof, he develops a unique concept of the state of nature. At the same time he [Page 1119]makes clear that philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes who have analyzed the state of humankind have not taken their analyses far enough back in time to show humankind's real nature.

Rousseau describes the transition from the natural man (homme naturel) to civilized man (homme civilisé). What distinguishes the first humans from animals is the mere fact that humans are free agents. The idea of freedom remains central to Rousseau's work as a criterion for a legitimate political order. However, freedom is in danger when human beings leave the state of nature. Social inequality and dependency arise together with the emergence of private property and the division of labor. This situation has been transferred into civil society by introducing a contract, initiated by the rich to perpetuate their profitable position.

The transition can be understood as antiteleo-logical and anti-Aristotelian. There is no immanent end in time. Human nature does not find its perfection in culture. It ends up in a cultural state due to random circumstances.

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