Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment : A Republican Critique of the Philosophes

Annotation. Arguing that the question of Jean-Jacques Rousseau s relationship to the Enlightenment has been eclipsed and seriously distorted by his association with the French Revolution, Graeme Garrard presents the first book-length case that shows Rousseau as the pivotal figure in the emergence of Counter-Enlightenment thought. Viewed in the context in which he actually lived and wrote -- from the middle of the eighteenth century to his death in 1778 -- it is apparent that Rousseau categorically rejected the Enlightenment "republic of letters" in favor of his own "republic of virtue." The philosophes, placing faith in reason and natural human sociability and subjecting religion to systematic criticism and doubt, naively minimized the deep tensions and complexities of collective life and the power disintegrative forces posed to social order. Rousseau believed that the ever precarious social order could only be achieved artificially, by manufacturing "sentiments of sociability, " reshaping individuals to identify with common interests instead of their own selfish interests ROUSSEAU’S COUNTER-ENLIGHTENMENT 4 Contents 8 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 12 Abbreviations 14 Introduction 18 1. The Enlightenment Republic of Letters 28 The Party of Humanity 28 The Virtue of Selfish Sociability 36 2. Philosophe, Madman, Revolutionary, God: The Many Faces of Jean-Jacques Rousseau 46 Introduction 46 Rousseau and the Philosophes 47 The Invention of the “Revolutionary” Rousseau 52 Conclusion 57 3. Unsociable Man: Rousseau’s Critique of Enlightenment Social Thought 58 Introduction 58 From Contract to Community 59 Natural Order, Social Disorder 62 Conclusion 70 4. Rousseau’s Counter-Enlightenment Republic of Virtue 72 Introduction 72 Extending amour-propre 73 Statecraft as Soulcraft 76 Rousseau’s “Manly” Republic 81 Conclusion 84 5. On the Utility of Religion 86 Introduction 86 The Religious Basis of Morality 89 The Union of Church and State 93 6. Dare to Be Ignorant! 100 Introduction 100 Messieurs de l’Encyclopédie 101 “A Sweet and Precious Ignorance” 104 The Light Within 109 Conclusion 118 7. The Worst of All Possible Worlds 120 The Cautious Optimism of the Philosophes 120 Rousseau’s Optimism about the Past 123 Rousseau’s Pessimism about the Future 128 Conclusion 132 Conclusion 134 Notes 138 Preface 138 Introduction 139 1. The Enlightenment Republic of Letters 142 2. Philosophe, Madman, Revolutionary, God 148 3. Unsociable Man 154 4. Rousseau’s Counter-Enlightenment Republic of Virtue 157 5. On the Utility of Religion 159 6. Dare to Be Ignorant! 163 7. The Worst of All Possible Worlds 167 Conclusion 169 Bibliography 172 Index 196 A 196 B 196 C 197 D 198 E 198 F 199 G 199 H 200 I 200 J 200 K 200 L 200 M 201 N 202 O 202 P 202 Q 203 R 203 S 205 T 206 U 206 V 206 W 207 Z 207