Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Date

1712–1778

Description

City of birth: Geneva
Country of birth: Switzerland
Field of activity: Politics — philosophy

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Quotes

‘In order to discover which rules of society suit nations best, a mind of a superior kind would be required, able to see all human emotions, while feeling none; without relationship to our nature, but knowing it to its depths; enjoying its own happiness independently of us, but prepared to be concerned with ours; a mind, in sum, which while preparing distant glory for itself in the fullness of time, could carry out its work in one century and enjoy its achievement in another. It is gods that are needed to give laws to men.’

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Speaker

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Title of the publication

The Social Contract

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Original publisher: Marc-Michel Rey; Publisher of translation: Oxford University Press

City of publication

Original publisher: Amsterdam; Publisher of translation: London

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

Netherlands

Publication date

Original: 1762; Translation: 1994

Location [pp. or web]

p. 76

Original language

French

Genre

Book

Context

This passage occurs with a book that argues against the divine right of monarchs, exploring the question of legitimate political authority. The book is a classic in political philosophy from the eighteenth century that influenced the course of the French Revolution. The book was banned in Paris. David Hume wrote to Rousseau on the publication of this work, ‘Of all the men of letters in Europe, since the death of Montesquieu, you are the person whom I most revere, both for the force of your genius and the greatness of your mind.’

Other contributors

Christopher Betts, translator

‘It is therefore very certain that pity is a natural sentiment which, by moderating in each individual the activity of self-love, contributes to the mutual preservation of the whole species. It is pity which carries us without reflection to the aid of those we see suffering; it is pity which in the state of nature takes the place of laws, morals and virtues, with the added advantage that no one there is tempted to disobey its gentle voice; it will always dissuade a robust savage from robbing a weak child or a sick old man of his hard-won sustenance if he has hope of finding his own elsewhere; it is pity which, in place of that noble maxim of rational justice "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", inspires all men with this other maxim of natural goodness, much less perfect but perhaps more useful: "Do good to yourself with as little possible harm to others." In a word, it is to this natural feeling, rather than to subtle arguments, that we must look for the origin of that repugnance which every man would feel against doing evil, even independently of the maxims of education.’

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Speaker

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Title of the publication

The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Other contributors

Maurice Cranston, translator

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Original publisher: Marc-Michel Rey; Publisher of translation: Penguin

City of publication

Original publisher: Amsterdam; Publisher of translation: London

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

Netherlands

Publication date

Original: 1755; Translation: 1984

Location [pp. or web]

Epub, pp. 232–3

Original language

French

Genre

Book

Context

This is part of Rousseau argument that from the emotion of pity ‘flows all the social virtues’. It is, he says, the foundation of sympathetic engagement with others.

‘Among the passions that agitate the heart of man, there is one, ardent and impetuous, which renders the sexes necessary to each other, a terrible passion which braves all dangers, defies all obstacles, and which in its fury seems liable to destroy the very human race it is meant to preserve. What must become of men, who are prey to this unrestrained and brutal rage, without shame, without modesty, fighting every day over their loves at the cost of their blood? At first it must be agreed that the more violent the passions, the more necessary are laws to restrain them; but the disorders and crimes which these passions cause every day among us demonstrate well enough the inadequacy of laws to achieve this end; and, what is more, it would be worth considering whether these disorders did not arise with the laws themselves, in which case, if the laws were capable of suppressing anything, the very least that ought to be demanded of them is that they should put an end to an evil which would not exist without them.’

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Speaker

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Title of the publication

The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Other contributors

Maurice Cranston, translator

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Original publisher: Marc-Michel Rey; Publisher of translation: Penguin

City of publication

Original publisher: Amsterdam; Publisher of translation: London

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

Netherlands

Publication date

Original: 1755 Translation: 1984

Location [pp. or web]

Epub, pp. 235–6

Original language

French

Genre

Book

Context

Rousseau’s writes directly about the passions in The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755); sometimes referred to as the Second Discourse. This quote occurs in the context of a discussion of the basic emotion of pity.

‘Whatever moralists may hold, the human understanding is greatly indebted to the passions, which, it is universally allowed, are also much indebted to the understanding. It is by the activity of the passions that our reason is improved; for we desire knowledge only because we wish to enjoy; and it is impossible to conceive any reason why a person who has neither fears nor desires should give himself the trouble of reasoning. The passions, again, originate in our wants, and their progress depends on that of our knowledge; for we cannot desire or fear anything, except from the idea we have of it, or from the simple impulse of nature.’

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Speaker

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Title of the publication

The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Other contributors

Maurice Cranston, translator

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Original publisher: Marc-Michel Rey; Publisher of translation: Penguin

City of publication

Original publisher: Amsterdam; Publisher of translation: London

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

Netherlands

Publication date

Original: 1755 Translation: 1984

Location [pp. or web]

Epub, p. 200

Original language

French

Genre

Book

Context

Rousseau remains one of the most influential philosophers from the eighteenth century’s Enlightenment project. A controversial figure, he clashed with authorities, other philosophers and friends, moving between Geneva, Annecy, Paris and London accordingly. Rousseau’s most significant engagement with emotion occurs in The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755); sometimes referred to as the Second Discourse, in which he argues that in addition to the Hobbesian principle of self-interest that motivates human actions, the second principle that characterises the ‘natural’ human soul is pity. That is, ‘an innate repugnance to see his fellow suffer’ (Second Discourse, Vol. II, p. 36).