Jean Jacques Rousseau (n. 28 iunie 1712, Geneva, Republica Geneva (d) - d. 2 iulie 1778, Ermenonville, Picardia, Frana) a fost un filozof elveian, scriitor i compozitor, unul dintre cei mai ilutri gnditori ai Iluminismului.A influenat hotrtor, alturi de Voltaire i Diderot, spiritul revoluionar, principiile de drept i contiina social a epocii; ideile lui se . Indeed, Montesquieu refers in The Spirit of the Laws both to those who write to proscribe the theatre because of its evoking softening emotions such as pity and tenderness and to one who might endeavour to restrain French women.Footnote90 Not so quixotic as to attempt the latter, Rousseau certainly endeavours the former by opposing most vehemently the establishment of a theatre in Geneva. 50 Kapossy, Iselin contra Rousseau, 39. Of course, Rousseau is willing to harness female society in such a manner only in the already corrupt society of France. Other scholars, who focus more intently on the Letter to d'Alembert, discern a crucial but limited influence of Montesquieu in two of Rousseau's teachings there: first, that some practices, including the theatre, can be appropriate and even wholesome for some societies, while noxious for others; and second, that mores are important in determining what types of laws and institutions a given people can tolerate and maintain. This extension of the empire of women is against natural order. In fact, Muralt relates that he observed that Englishmen sometimes had the audacity to bring their mistresses to the dinner table, and this caused so little trouble that it led Muralt to declare: Je crois que s'il leur en prenoit envie, ils les feroient coucher dans un mme lit, & je ne sai s'il n'y en a pas eu qui s'en soient avisez. was "ironic" and even "illogical" given Rousseau's otherwise egalitarian principles; indeed, if taken to their logical conclusion, Rousseau's ideas on women made "utter non-sense" of his whole political philosophy. He considered women, by virtue of their nature, to be the primary agents of moral reform, and that the success of the state depends on the harmony within private, domestic life. [2], In the Letter, Rousseau rejected the traditional notion of male politicians being responsible for moral reform, and thought it was women's responsibility. Online: Amazon (Recommended translation) Google Books (Free preview available). Rousseau remains resolutely opposed to the theatre in Geneva, however. In Paris, as in Geneva, they ordered the book to be burned and the author arrested; all the Marchal de Luxembourg could do was to provide a carriage for Rousseau to escape from France. His reforms revolutionized taste, first in music, then in the other arts. His thought marked the end of the European Enlightenment (the "Age of Reason"). The place seems to breed affection.Footnote20, Nevertheless, Montesquieu's description of these theatrical relations of the French in the Persian Letters, while in part satirical, bears an important resemblance to his description and praise of a people who possess a sociable humour in Book 19 of The Spirit of the Laws. In a text directed toward representation, he thus makes semblance, imitation, a category worthy of moral judgement: that is the . Rahe explains that it is not simply the case that the two thinkers were opposedtheir thought is much more entwined: For the arguments that Rousseau deployed against enlightenment and commercial society and those that he presented on behalf of ancient Sparta [] were for the most part borrowed from Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws; see Rahe, Soft Despotism, 77. Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre. Rousseau received thousands . Comments. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. 2 Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert, Geneva, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Letter to d'Alembert and Writings for the Theater [hereafter Letter], in The Collected Writings of Rousseau, edited by Roger D. Masters and Christopher Kelly, 13 vols (Hanover, NH, 19902010), X, 241. Download Letter to D'Alembert and Writings for the Theater PDF . In this manner, Rousseau adheres closely to Montesquieu's language, even if their ultimate judgements on the phenomenon differ. The accents of nature [les accents de la nature] cause this pleasure; it is the sweetest of all voices.Footnote31, Montesquieu's praise of Racine's Hippolytus, whom he describes as being accused, judged, condemned, banished, and covered with infamy, underscores the fact that to his mind this blameless young man is the victim of a judicial procedure that failed to disclose his true innocence. Please wait while we process your payment. 43 Montesquieu, of course, acknowledges that a variety of factors can affect how any given people responds to a theatrical work; see, for example, Spirit, 14.2, 233. But even that highly placed friend could not save him in 1762 when his treatise mile; ou, de leducation (Emile; or, On Education) was published and scandalized the pious Jansenists of the French Parlements even as The Social Contract scandalized the Calvinists of Geneva. He also wrote Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques (1780; Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques) to reply to specific charges by his enemies and Les Rveries du promeneur solitaire (1782; Reveries of the Solitary Walker), one of the most moving of his books, in which the intense passion of his earlier writings gives way to a gentle lyricism and serenity. 177. marriage for financial reasons, order, lust, convenience). It is not hard to excuse Phaedra, who is incestuous and spills innocent blood.Footnote53. The theme of The New Eloise provides a striking contrast to that of The Social Contract. Indeed, Rousseau, who elsewhere can be quite critical of England's political life,Footnote66 in this particular instance undertakes to defend the English by arguing that the social separation of the sexes in England does not, in fact, diminish individual happiness but rather deepens the profundity of society and therefore fosters a truer pleasure: Thus both [sexes], withdrawn more into themselves, give themselves less to frivolous imitations, get more of a taste for the true pleasures of life, and think less of appearing happy than of being so.Footnote67 Rousseau thus maintains that with the exception of family life, the two sexes ought to come together sometimes and to live separated ordinarily.Footnote68 But this separation is certainly not observed in France: The society of the two sexes, having become too usual and too easy, has harmed both men and women in his view, as the general spirit of gallantry [galanterie] stifles both genius and love.Footnote69 Men, he says, are affected as much as, and more than, women by a commerce [commerce] that is too intimate; they lose only their morals, but we lose our morals and our constitution [constitution].Footnote70 He urges sardonically: Imagine what can be the temper of the soul of a man who is uniquely occupied with the important business of amusing women.Footnote71 Finally, he elaborates on the harm that such frequent social interactions have on women: They are flattered without being loved; they are served without being honored; they are surrounded by agreeable persons but they no longer have lovers; and the worst is that the former, without having the sentiments of the latter, usurp nonetheless all the rights.Footnote72. Even if the play happens to portray moral ideals well, the awareness of the audience that it is a fiction does not do the ideas justice. In the process, he adopts Montesquieu's notion that the laws of a body politic must coincide with and be born from the mores and manners of that particular society. Thus, an examination of Rousseau's discussion of theatre together with its relation to women and morality reveals that he is employing distinctly Montesquieuian terms and themes in order to engage and challenge his predecessor. Phaedra thus dramatises the very concerns that Montesquieu's treatise discusses at such length and in such detail, but does so in an emotionally affecting manner precisely because Racine presents Hippolytus as so undeserving of such a callous and vindictive father. Rousseau; D'Alembert; Habitants de Genve; Les Montagnards; Rsum. Whereas Montesquieu and Rousseau speak of female society forming and perfecting taste, Muralt asserts that the subordination of the masculine to the feminine in society corrupts tastes: on se corrompt le got; see Muralt, Lettres, 246. When Geneva was so threatened with the possibility of embracing such French mores, Rousseau engaged directly with the very authority whom d'Alembert invokes. GREAT [4], Even if the theatre is morally innocuous, Rousseau argues, its presence is disruptive to potentially productive use of time. 57 theatre subverted the immediacy, the joyous spontaneity, the doux sentiment, of republican communion; see Forman-Barzilai, Emergence of Contextualism in Rousseau, 437. In light of this regrettable fact, he declares: I would consider myself the happiest of mortals if I could make it so that men were able to cure themselves of their prejudices. This is a civil law, Montesquieu proclaims pointedly, that punishes natural defense.Footnote39 After asserting that natural defense demands that the accused be confronted by witnesses in a criminal proceeding, the chapters go on to provide examples of how civil laws can interfere with familial relations. [4], Towards the middle of this final section Rousseau reasons that the theatre does very little good for the poor, who cannot afford the taxes required to support a theatre. He explains that he terms prejudices not what makes one unaware of certain things but what makes one unaware of oneself.Footnote44 Through our feelingsthat is, through emotional responses to the actions on stage, the theatre reminds people that despite their integration into societies sustained by a multiplicity of political, civil, and religious codes, a natural human core still remains. Rousseaus attack on the theater proved to be an important turning point in his career as he decisively broke withother Enlightenment thinkers over questions of religion, gender, and contemporary social culture. Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles (French: Lettre a M. d'Alembert sur les spectacles) is a 1758 essay written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in opposition to an article published in the Encyclopdie by Jean d'Alembert, that proposed the establishment of a theatre in Geneva. By focusing on his belief in the natural order and harmony of traditional sex roles and community, Rousseau writes to convince D'Alembert, and the public of Geneva, that a theatre is a threat to an ideal, natural way of life. Jean le Rond d'Alembert's article on Geneva ignited much controversy when it was published in 1757 in the seventh volume of l'Encyclopdie.Footnote1 The article, which names Geneva as one of the most flourishing cities of Europe, served as a vehicle by which d'Alembert endeavoured to promote not only a tolerant and enlightened Christianity, but also the establishment of a theatre in the otherwise stern Calvinist city.Footnote2 D'Alembert enlists by name the authority of both Voltaire and Montesquieu to aid him in his treatment of the small, Protestant republic. Amusements are acceptable in moderation, when they are necessary, but they become a burden if they consume the minds of men enough to waste their time. Rousseau devotes many pages to explaining the methods the tutor must use. Rousseaus view that drama might well be abolished marked a final break between the two writers. Dans le Commerce continuel qu'il y a entre les deux Sexes, il se fait comme un change de Caractre, qui les fait un peu droger l'un & l'autre; see Muralt, Lettres, 229. Il ne veut pas ressembler aux . Geneva, which already has a large degree of inequality, does not need any more. At points in his Letter to d'Alembert Rousseau borrows Montesquieu's images and sometimes his very language, adapting them to his purpose in condemning the establishment of a theatre in small and virtuous Geneva.Footnote45 Thus, Rousseau accepts many of Montesquieu's claims regarding French society and its form of sociability. The members of the Wolmar household are depicted as finding happiness in living according to an aristocratic ideal. He felt, moreover, a strong emotional drive toward the worship of God, whose presence he felt most forcefully in nature, especially in mountains and forests untouched by human hands. Discourse on Inequality was completed in May 1754, and published in 1755. Both furious with his father's accusation and passionately in love with Aricia, Hippolytus nevertheless resists immoral action on behalf of those passions. Rousseau worked as a clerk to a notary, and then was apprenticed to an engraver. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (UK: / r u s o /, US: / r u s o / French: [ ak uso]; 28 June 1712 - 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher (), writer, and composer.His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought. Once again looking to Greece and Rome as an ideal, he says that Sparta did not tolerate theatres, and Rome considered the acting profession dishonourable. In the next book of The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu specifically illustrates how the theatre appeals to our natural morality: In our theaters we watch with pleasure when a young hero shows as much horror on discovering his step-mother's crime as he had for the crime itself; in his surprise, accused, judged, condemned, banished, and covered with infamy, he scarcely dares do more than make a few reflections on the abominable blood from which Phaedra is descended; he abandons what he holds most dear [] to give himself up to the vengeance of the gods, a vengeance he has not deserved. He first tries to sway Geneva away from the idea of theatre by suggesting that it is not economically feasible, and that the population is too low to support a theatre. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Rousseau endeavours quite extensively in the Letter to counter the appeal of commerceboth economic and socialas Montesquieu depicts its pleasing character and salutary effects in The Spirit of the Laws. More generally, it is a critical analysis of the effects of culture on morals, that clarifies the links between politics and social life. 45 For Rousseau's association with Geneva both before and after the composition of the Letter, see Richard Whatmore, Against War and Empire: Geneva, Britain and France in the Eighteenth Century (New Haven, CT, 2012), 5497. This edition seeks to uncover the originality and complexity of Rousseau's argument in a text that seems to reprise traditional religious . 3099067 Letter 28 humorously depicts Rica conflating the actors and the audience of the scene he describes, thus confusing the spectacle on the stage with the spectacle of Parisian social life: Yesterday I saw something rather odd [assez singulire], although in Paris it happens every day. 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