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Rousseau's Images of Authority

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Judith N. Shklar
Judith N. Shklar
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

By nature men are free, but left to their own devices they will inevitably enslave each other. Of all the “bipolarities” in the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau none is more striking than this tension between natural freedom and the spontaneous march to inequality and oppression in which all men participate. None aroused more conflicting reactions in his own mind. If men are the sole authors of their ills, and not the mere victims of some external force, be it original sin, a malevolent nature or a hostile environment, then there is always hope for self-improvement. On the other hand, if men were alone responsible for inventing and maintaining their own social misery, they could scarcely be expected to overcome conditions they had themselves chosen to create. One could hardly hope that those who had devised and imposed their own chains, would either wish, or know how to liberate themselves. Jf there was no need for cosmic fatalism, there was every reason to despair of mankind's own social powers.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , December 1964 , pp. 919 - 932
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1964

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References

1 I owe the felicitous term, bipolarity, to Wahl's, Jean remarkable article, “La Bipolarité de Rousseau,” Annales Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Vol. 33 (1953–1955), pp. 49–55Google Scholar.

2 “Lettre à Voltaire,” 18 aout, 1756, Correspondance Générale de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (ed. Dufour, Théophile, Paris, 1924–1932), II, 303–324Google Scholar. (Hereafter cited as C. G.)

3 Émile, tr. Foxley, Barbara (London, 1948), p. 33Google Scholar; “Lettre à Usteri,” 13 septembre, 1761, C. G., V, 211–212Google Scholar.

4 Vaughan, C. E., The Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Cambridge, 1915), I, 447Google Scholar (Première Version du Contrat Social). Weakness is indeed the source of all evil, see ibid., I, 167, 203 (Discours sur l'Origine et les Fondements de l'Inégalité Parmi les Hommes. Hereafter cited as Inégalité); Discours sur Cette Question: Quelle est la Vertu la Plus Nécessaire au Héros, Oeuvres Computès (ed. Pléiade, , Paris, 1959–Google Scholar. Hereafter cited as O. C.), II, 1274.

5 Vaughan, II, 344–345 (Projet de Constitution pour la Corse. Hereafter cited as Corsica); ibid., I, 251 (Économie Politique). Fetscher, I., Rousseaus Politische Philosophie (Neuwied/Rhein, 1960), pp. 62–65, 198–199Google Scholar.

6 Vaughan, I, 256 (Économie Politique).

7 Vaughan, I, 207. (Inégalité. My translation.)

8 Thus Emile who is educated for freedom is nevertheless reduced to docility. He does nothing without the consent of his master, and even as a young adult is submissive and afraid of offending the latter. Émile, pp. 297–299, 387. “Let him have his freedom if you would make him docile.” Ibid., 196.

9 “Lettre à Mme. d'Épinay,” 26 mars, 1757, C. G., III, 44; “Lettre à Diderot,” ibid., 50.

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12 He regarded these as the lasting effects of his childhood experience of authority as exercised by Mademoiselle de Lambercier who, he felt, had crippled him morally and sexually. Confessions, Bk. I, pp. 15–17; “Je m'affectionnois aux actes de soumission,” Ébauches des Confessions, O. C., I, 1157Google Scholar.

13 E.g., Lettres à Malesherbes, O. C., I, 1141Google Scholar; Hume, , “Lettre à la Marquise de Barbantane,” 16 février, 1766, C. G., XV, 62–63Google Scholar.

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17 Confessions, Bk. X, p. 527. (My translation.)

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19 Confessions, Bk. VII, p. 327.

20 Ibid., Bk. II, p. 87.

21 La Nouvelle Heloïse, O. C., II, Part IV, Lettre X. (Hereafter cited as N. H.)

22 Vaughan, II, 31 (Contrat Social).

23 Émile, p. 369.

24 Ébauches des Confessions, p. 1150.

25 N. H., Part I, Lettre LXII.

26 Vaughan, II, 447, 461, 464. (Considérations sur le Gouvernment de Pologne. Hereafter cited as Poland.)

27 Vaughan, I, 244 (Économie Politique); 389–392 (Jugement sur la Polysynodie), II, 77Google Scholar (Contrat Social).

28 Vaughan, I, 358 (Fragments).

29 “Lettre à M. de Mirabeau,” 26 juillet, 1767, C. G., XVII, 155–159Google Scholar.

30 Vaughan, II, 37 (Contrat Social).

31 Vaughan, I, 126 (Inégalité).

32 Émile, p. 49.

33 Vaughan, I, 248 (Économie Politique).

34 Confessions, Book IX, pp. 404–405; Vaughan, I, 246 (Économie Politique).

35 Vaughan, I, 322 (Fragments).

36 Vaughan, I, 248 (Économie Politique).

37 Vaughan, I, 330–331 (Fragments); Vaughan, II, 426–427 (Poland).

38 “Lettre à Vernet,” 29 novembre, 1760, C. G., V, 270–272Google Scholar.

39 Vaughan, II, 88, 91 (Contrat Social). “Le Corps politique, aussi bien que le corps de l'homme, commence a mourir dès sa naissance.”

40 Vaughan, II, 427–429 (Poland); ibid., I, 314–320, 330–332 (Fragments).

41 Vaughan, I, 338 (Fragments).

42 Grimsley, op. cit., pp. 67–68, 70–71, 80; Schinz, Albert, La Pensée de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Paris, 1929), pp. 136–157Google Scholar.

43 Rousseau admitted his lack of genuine interest in history, “La comparaison de ce qui est à ce qui doit être m'a donné l'esprit romanesque et m'a toujours jeté loin de tout ce qui ce fait,” “Lettre au Prince de Wurtemberg,” 10 novembre, 1763, C. G., X, 217Google Scholar.

44 Vaughan, I, 477–483 (Premièbre Version); ibid., II, 51–54 (Contrat Social).

45 Thus Rousseau was quite ready to leave the political future of Corsica to the “soul and heart” of General Paoli. “Lettre à M. Buttafoco,” 26 mai, 1765, C. G., XIII, 334–336Google Scholar.

46 “Lettre à M. l'Abbé de Raynal,” juin, 1753, C. G., II, 49Google Scholar. The multitude, Rousseau wrote, are sheep; they need examples, not arguments.

47 Vaughan, I, 250–251 (Economie Politique), 476 (Premièbre Version).

48 Vaughan, II, 54 (Contrat Social).

49 Politics and the Arts: Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater, tr. and ed. Bloom, Allan (Glencoe, Ill., 1960), pp. 68–74Google Scholar.

50 Émile, p. 159; Vaughan, I, 246–247 (Économie Politique).

51 Vaughan, I, 324 (Fragments), 478, 483–484, 489 (Première Version); II, 53–54 (Contrat Social); Letter to d'Alembert, p. 74.

52 Fetscher, I., “Rousseau's Concept of Freedom,” Nomos, Vol. 6 (1962), p. 46Google Scholar.

53 “Je crois que mes idées différent prodigieusement de celles de votre nation,” “Lettre à M. Buttafoco, 24 mars, 1765, C. G., XIII, 150–153Google Scholar.

54 “Notre plus douce existence est relative et collective et notre vrai moi n'est pas tout entier en nous,” Rousseau Juge de Jean-Jacques, II, O.C., I, 813Google Scholar.

55 “Lettres Morales,” VI, C. G., III, 9Google Scholar.

56 Émile, p. 3; Vaughan, I, 255–257 (Économie Politique).

57 “Celui qui se croit capable de former un peuple doit se sentir en état de changer, pour ainsi dire, la nature des hommes. Il faut qu'il transforme chaque individu, qui est par lui-même un tout parfait et solitaire, en partie d'un plus grand tout, dont cet individu reçoive en quelque sorte sa vie et son être; qu'il mutile, pour ainsi dire, la constitution de l'homme.” Vaughan, I, 248 (Économie Politique), 324 (Fragments), 478 (Première Version); II, 51–52 (Contrat Social).

58 Vaughan, I, 355–356 (Fragments); II, 319, 428, 432 (Poland).

59 Vaughan, II, 56 (Contrat Social). To the Poles he said, “Ils doivent rechercher uniquement ce qui leur est convenable, et non pas ce que d'autres font.” Ibid., II, 487.

60 “C'est done en vain qu'on prétendroit refondre les divers ésprits sur un modele commun. On peut les contraindre et non les changer.” N. H., Part V, Lettre III.

61 Starobinski, Jean, “La Pensée Politique de Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” in Baud-Bovy, Samuel et al. , Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Neuchâtel, 1962), pp. 83, 99Google Scholar.

62 Les Rêveries, VI, 1057–1059Google Scholar.

63 Confessions, Bk. XII, p. 650.

64 Vaughan, I, 350–351 (Fragments).

65 Ibid., I, 342 (Fragments).

66 Rousseau Juge de Jean-Jacques, I, 728Google Scholar.

67 Les Rêveries, VI, 1057–1059Google Scholar.

68 Confessions, Bk. VIII, pp. 355, 438; Rousseau Juge de Jean-Jacques, II, 778Google Scholar.

69 Confessions, Bk. V, pp. 177–178, 201–206, 264–265. That is why Rousseau resented Anet so deeply: in the Nouvelle Heloïse he gave the worthless valet Claude Anet's name.

70 N. H., Part III, Lettre XVIII.

71 “Lettre à M. Coindet,” décembre, 1760, C. G., V, 295Google Scholar, and other notes on the illustrations, O. C., II, 762. The coldness of the true sage was often noted, e.g., Rousseau Juge de Jean-Jacques, II, 861–862Google Scholar.

72 N. H., Part IV, Lettre XII.

73 Ibid., Part IV, Lettres XI, XII.

74 “Au lieu de juger des autres par soi il faudroit peut être juger de soi par les autres, mais sans s'arreter à l'apparence, il faudroit pour cela lire dans leur coeur comme on croit lire dans le sien.” Ébauches des Confessions, p. 1158.

“What then is required for ths proper study of men? A great wish to know men, a great impartiality of judgment, a heart sufficiently sensitive to understand every human passion, and calm enough to be free from passion.” Émile, p. 206. Just so Wolmar.

75 N. H., Part V, Lettre XII.

76 Vaughan, I, 211 (Inégalité); Starobinski, Jean, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: la Transparence et l'Obstacle (Paris, 1957), pp. 139–140Google Scholar. It may be that Wolmar and Julie are meant to represent a perfect whole, as is suggested by Broome, J. H., Rousseau (London, 1963), pp. 131, 140Google Scholar. However, it is quite plausible that Julie is meant to play Christ to Wolmar's God. She is the very spirit of mercy and charity at Clarens—and at the end there is even a false impression of resurrection, all pointing to Rousseau's decidedly moralistic, non mystical view of the Christian message.

77 “La véritable Grandeur consiste dans l'exercice des vertus bienfaisantes, à l'example de celle de Dieu qui ne se manifeste que par les biens qu'il repand sur nous.” Oraison Funèbre du Due d'Orleans, O. C., II, 1277Google Scholar. (My italics.)

78 “Dieu veut que nous soyons tels qu'il nous à fait,” Lettre â Christophe Beaumont, Archevêque de Paris, Oeuvres Complètes (Hachette), III, 88–89Google Scholar. God says to man, “Je t'ai fait trop faible pour sortir du gouffre, parce que je t'ai fait assez fort pour n'y pas tomber.” Confessions, Bk. II, p. 64. In a sense the Wolmars of this world do better than God. They retrieve men from the abyss, rather than leaving them to suffer the consequences of weakness.

79 As soon as St. Preux has met Wolmar he says, “Je commençait de counoitre alors quel homme j'avois à faire, et je résolus bien de tenir mon coeur en état d'être vu de lui,” N. H., Part IV, Lettre VI.

80 Much as M. Gaime once returned Rousseau's self-confidence to him—Confessions, Bk. III, pp. 90–91; Émile, pp. 226–227.

81 Pensèes d'un Ésprit Droit, LXXI, O. C., II, 1313Google Scholar.

82 N. H., Part IV, Lettre XIV.

83 For a discussion linking Rousseau's and Proust's psychology of time, see Temmer, M. J., Time in Rousseau and Kant (Geneva, 1958), pp. 22–24; 27–33, 44–49Google Scholar.

84 Vaughan, I, 150, 178 (Inégalité); Préface â “Narcisse,” O. C., II, 970Google Scholar; Émile, pp. 44–45, 95, 245; Les Rêveries, V, 1046Google Scholar.

85 Émile, pp. 46, 317.

86 Pensées, XLVI, O. C., II, 1309Google Scholar.

87 Émile, p. 124; Vaughan, I, 215–216 (Inégalité).

88 Vaughan, II, 55 (Contrat Social), 441 (Poland).

89 Vaughan, I, 183 (Inégalité); II, 307 (Corsica).

90 For the best account of this see Étienne Gilson, “La Méthode de M. de Wolmar,” in Lea Idées et les Lettres (Paris, 1932), pp. 275–298Google Scholar.

91 N. H., Part V, Lettre XII.

92 Ibid., Part II, Lettre XII; Part VI, Lettre III.

93 Ibid., Part III, Lettre XVIII; Part IV, Lettre VII; Part VI, Lettre XII.

94 Ibid., Part IV, Lettre XV.

95 Ibid., Part V, Lettre VII.

96 Ibid., Part V, Lettre XII. (All translations are mine.)

97 Ibid., Part VI, Lettre XII.

98 Ibid., Part IV, Lettres IX, XII. It is clear that both in his methods and ends Wolmar cannot be compared to a modern psychoanalyst, Indeed, there is no effort made here to represent Rousseau as a precursor of psychoanalytic theory, in spite of surface similarities.

99 Thus St. Preux notes, “si je n'y prends pas tout à fait l'autorité d'un maitre; je sens plus de plaisir encore à me regarder comme l'enfant de la maison.” Ibid., Part V, Lettre II.

100 N. H., Part V, Lettre II.

101 Vaughan, II, 497 (Poland).

102 N. H., Part IV, Lettre X.

103 Vaughan, 1,181 (Inégalité); II, 497 (Poland).

104 For the place of justice and fairness in the Social Contract see Kateb, G., “Aspects of Rousseau's Political Thought,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 76 (1961), pp. 519–543CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

105 N. H., Part III, Lettre XX, Part IV, Lettres IV, X.

106 See also Émile, pp. 48, 198, 202.

107 Thus the tutor in Émile says of servants, “be their brother and they will be your children,” p. 59. Not equals, it should be noted, but dependents. That too is the state of affairs at Clarens. N. H., Part V, Lettre VII. The importance of festivals and ceremonies is also urged upon the Poles, Vaughan, II (Poland), 434–435.

108 N. H. Part IV, Lettre XIV.

109 Ibid., Part V, Lettres III, X; for a religious interpretation of the relationship, see Burgelin, Pierre, La Philosophie de l'Existence de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Paris, 1952), pp. 447–455Google Scholar.

110 “Lettre à Lenieps,” 8 novembre, 1758, C. G., IV, 115–116Google Scholar.

111 Letter to d'Alembert, p. 82.

112 N. H. Part I, Lettre XXI.

113 Essai sur les Evénements Importants Dont les Femmes Ont Été la Cause Secrète,” O. C., II, pp. 1257–1259Google Scholar; Sur les Femmes, ibid., pp. 1254–1255.

114 Émile, pp. 322, 370–371; Pensées, VII, O. C., II, 1300; Letter to d'Alembert, pp. 87–88.

115 Émile, pp. 333, 359.

116 Ibid., p. 444.

117 Ibid., pp. 5, 87. He regretted that the law gave them too little power over their children mainly because he thought maternal affection less harmful than paternal harshness.

118 Vaughan, I, 205 (Inégalité); N. H., “Seconds Préface,” p. 24; Émile, pp. 48, 149, 163.

119 Vaughan, I, 185 (Inégalité), 237–240 (Économie Politique); Émile, p. 423; Vaughan, II, 80 (Contrat Social).

120 Émile, pp. 16–17.

121 Vaughan, I, 256–258 (Économie Politique), 278–279 (Fragments), Geneva, he thought, was an acceptable compromise between domestic and public education, “Lettre à Tronchin,” 26 novembre, 1758, C. G., IV, 143Google Scholar.

122 Émile, p. 19.

123 Ibid., p. 17; according to Wolmar, “Il n'y a qu'un homme de génie en qui l'on puisse espérer de trouver les lumieres d'un maitre.” N. H., Part IV, Lettre XIV.

124 Émile, pp. 208, 299–300. That is why a St. Preux would do.

125 Confessions, Bk. VII, pp. 267–269; Émile, p. 18.

126 Rousseau made this point in his first essay on private education written in 1740, “Ménoire Presenté à M. de Ste. Maire Pour l'Education de son Fils,” C. G., I, 367–379Google Scholar, and he repeated it many years later in advising a nobleman on the rules to be followed by the governess of the latter's daughter, “Lettre au Prince de Wurtemberg,” 10 novembre, 1763, C. G., X, 205–217Google Scholar; Émile, p. 20. The tutor, not the father, Rousseau insisted, chooses a wife for Émile, ibid., p. 369.

127 Rousseau Juge de Jean-Jacques, I, 687Google Scholar; Émile pp. 16, 57.

128 Ibid., p. 6.

129 Ibid., pp. 157, 216–217; N. H., Part V, Lettre III. “Give nature time to work before you take over her business.” Émile, p. 71.

130 Lettre à Christophe Beaumont, p. 71.

131 Émile, pp. 84–85.

132 Ibid., p. 55.

133 Ibid., p. 209.

134 Ibid., pp. 84–85, 88–89, 107, 177.

135 Ibid., p. 169.

136 Ibid., p. 444.

137 Ibid., p. 290.

138 Émile et Sophie, Hachette, III, p. 3Google Scholar. (My translation.)

139 Vaughan, II, 501 (Poland).

140 Ibid., II, 51 (Contrat Social).

141 N. H., Part VI, Lettre XI. “No man is free from man's first duty, no one has the right to depend on another's judgment,” Émile, p. 270. That men should be free is the will of Providence, ibid., pp. 243–244.

142 Les Rêveries, VI, 1059Google Scholar; Lettres à Malesherbes, p. 1132; Lettres Écrites de la Montague, pp. 227–228; Émile et Sophie, p. 28.

143 Émile, pp. 48–59, 125, 436; Pensées, XXXI, p. 1305Google Scholar.

144 Vaughan, I, 184 (Inégalité). If most actual authority is merely a necessary response to the wickedness of the subjects, it is still true that even in good republics the glory of the citizen rests in obedience to legitimate masters. Ibid., I, 127, 190–191 (Inégalité); “Lettre à M. d'lvernois,” 24 mars, 1768, C. G., XVIII, 175–178Google Scholar. That the element of subjection remains is not to be forgotten. “There is no subjection so complete as that which preserves the forms of freedom; it is thus that the will itself is taken captive.” Émile, pp. 88, 196.

145 “Lettre à M. Moultou fils,” 7 mars, 1768, C. G., XVIII, 147–150Google Scholar, “ce n'est pas la peine de se battailler pour le reste.”