4 Pages Posted: 11 Aug 2014

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

What does the self-absorbed figure of Rousseau’s autobiographies have to do with the noble idealism of the theoretical writings? Was moral and political virtue his genuine ideal, or was carefree solitude ultimately superior? These questions of deeper intent partly hinge on the question of hypocrisy — whether he acknowledged genuine gaps between his principles and practice, and if so, how he overcame or accounted for them. This study frames some of the leading paradigms of Rousseau interpretation in these terms, with some (beginning with Kant and Ernst Cassirer) finding his intentions fundamentally moralistic, and others (beginning with Leo Strauss) finding them fundamentally subversive. We find each approach indispensable in some respects yet limited in others, pointing the way to a new paradigm of reconciling Rousseau’s life with his principles, thereby shedding light on his fundamental intentions over the course of his writings.