rousseau letter to d'alembert summary

D'Alembert here refers to a chapter, entitled A Fine Law, in Book 20 of The Spirit of the Laws, which contains Montesquieu's only mention of Geneva in the work; see Charles-Louis Secondat de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws [hereafter Spirit, in the format of book.chapter, page(s)], translated and edited by Anne M. Cohler, Basia C. Miller, and Harold S. Stone (Cambridge, 1989), 20.16, 348. . Mostefai describes in some detail how d'Alembert's essay bears the marks of Voltaire's influence by mimicking Voltaire's own literary approach of criticising French politics and religion through the praise of another society and furthering Voltaire's interests of establishing a theatre in his neighbourhood which may fulfil the substance of Rousseau's accusation; see, for example, Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve, 1718, 31, 3435, 41, 56. The most immediate result of Rousseau's vision that day in 1749 was the Discourse on the Sciences and Arts. Montesquieu's description of a gentle and joyful societal existence could very well foster admiration beyond the borders of France, and thus spread the very mores from which Rousseau endeavours to protect Geneva. See also Thomas, Negotiating Taste in Montesquieu, 8182. Thus, despite making similar observations regarding the power of the theatre, Rousseau's and Montesquieu's ultimate valuations of it are quite different. He continues that this French vivacity is corrected by the politeness it brings us, by inspiring us with a taste for the world and above all for commerce with women [commerce des femmes].Footnote24 He accepts the fact, apparently without regret, that the society of women spoils mores and forms taste [socit des femmes gte les murs, et forme le got]. The best alternative to theatres is open-air festivals, in nature, to provide a unifying, patriotic spirit. By the time his Lettre dAlembert sur les spectacles (1758; Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre) appeared in print, Rousseau had already left Paris to pursue a life closer to nature on the country estate of his friend Mme dpinay near Montmorency. 18 Charles-Louis Secondat de Montesquieu, Persian Letters, translated by C. J. Betts (London, 2004, first published in 1979), letter 28, 79 (1:172). 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. By closing this message, you are consenting to our use of cookies. In it Rousseau speaks to . 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. This awareness of presenting oneself to be viewed and judged by others fosters politeness, manners, and the joie de vivre that Montesquieu speaks so highly of in France.Footnote64. Evidence suggests that the feminist consensus on Jean-Jacques Rousseau "misogyny" is breaking down.New studies are emerging that bring to light the many sympathetic portrayals of women in Rousseau's works and the important role he ascribed to women within the family. Rousseau takes comfort in an allegiance to truth alone at the time of his break with Diderot and at which he becomes convinced that he must live without friends. [2], The theatre in relation to what is performed in it, The theatre considered in relation to the stage and actors, Last edited on 23 February 2019, at 20:12, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Letter_to_M._D%27Alembert_on_Spectacles&oldid=884754743, This page was last edited on 23 February 2019, at 20:12. 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. For example, when Aricia, Hippolytus's beloved, begs him to tell his father that Phaedra had deceived him, he responds: What more should I/ Have told him? We wish to acknowledge the generous support of the Faculty Research and Awards Committee, the Undergraduate Research Fund, and the Department of Political Science at Tufts for the award of grants in support of this project. 26 Michael A. Mosher, The Judgmental Gaze of European Women: Gender, Sexuality, and the Critique of Republican Rule, Political Theory, 22 (1994), 2544 (42). This edition seeks to uncover the originality and complexity of Rousseau's argument in a text that seems to reprise traditional religious . For me, in the 'Letter to d'Alembert' Rousseau is on the side of prejudice, with his vehement moralising, and also a type of violence, always bordering on an exaggerated aggressiveness that is almost useless. marriage for financial reasons, order, lust, convenience). 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. You are not required to obtain permission to reuse this article in part or whole. 21 Diana J. Schaub, Erotic Liberalism: Women and Revolution in Montesquieu's Persian Letters (Lanham, MD, 1995), 11314. Many scholars have identified the decisive influence of Montesquieu's treatment of the ancient city in Rousseau's thought more generally, but have not yet fully explored the role that Montesquieu's treatment of the theatre plays in Rousseau's Letter. Eloge de D'Alembert mais Rousseau a quand mme des devoirs. A decade later, Rousseau would discern that same power, but would respond by endeavouring to proscribe itat least as far as Geneva is concerned. Discourse on Inequality was completed in May 1754, and published in 1755. 50 Kapossy, Iselin contra Rousseau, 39. Julie succeeds in forgetting her feelings for Saint-Preux and finds happiness as wife, mother, and chatelaine. [4], He goes on to criticize women's social activity in public and private venues in Paris and Geneva, suggesting women produce the only gossip, and the moral decay of men, women and children. With Racine's Phaedra in mind, Rousseau denies that the theatre can teach morality: What do we learn from Phdre and pide other than that man is not free and that Heaven punishes him for crimes that it makes him commit? The Letter on Providence aroused Voltaire's great interest. You can view our. Because of the natural respect men have for the moral sense and timidity of women, for men to be amongst women as actresses will be a further threat to men's morality. These seemingly fleeting references to this art form should not be overlooked as they clarify and expound upon fundamental aspects of his political theory. In subjecting the type of sociability that a theatre engenders to finely-grained analysis, Rousseau offers examples and language remarkably akin to those that Montesquieu employs in The Spirit of the Laws, yet he uses Montesquieu's teaching in order to oppose some of the very assertions his predecessor makes. Rousseau died suddenly on July 2, 1778. Rousseau worked as a servant, music teacher and engraver. 4. Coleman's insight is intriguing in part because Montesquieu's discussion of duelling occurs in Spirit, 28.22, where Montesquieu declares that women are quite enlightened judges of a part of the things that constitute personal merit; see Spirit, 28.22, 561. Rousseau famously argued that the continued progress of the sciences and arts corrupted human morality, it would appear that Rousseau's view of a free society has little to do Abstract An analysis of Rousseau's cultural and artistic ideas, as taken from the famous Letter to d'Alembert on the Theater. He notes that the citizens forbearance in the face of such criticism of the founder of their church reveals their enlightened tolerance.Footnote4 In addition, d'Alembert makes use of Montesquieu's authority when treating Geneva's laws in his essay, adducing the fact that M. 13 Maurice Cranston, Jean-Jacques: The Early Life and Work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 17121754 (Chicago, IL, 1991, first published in 1982), 21315. 15 For a fuller discussion, see Thomas, Negotiating Taste in Montesquieu, 7172. Sometimes it can end up there. 51 Muralt's name does not appear in indexes of Montesquieu's works, including the Penses; neither does it appear in Catalogue de la bibliothque de Montesquieu la Brede, edited by Louis Desgraves (Geneva, 1954) nor in Robert Shackleton, Montesquieu: A Critical Biography (Oxford, 1961). Montesquieu broaches the possibility that drama itself can teach morality in The Spirit of the Laws in Book 25, one of two devoted to the subject of religion. Alternate titles: Lettre dAlembert sur les spectacles, Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Years of seclusion and exile of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau too offers this very contrast in his treatment of the theatre in his Letter to d'Alembert, but in the case of English society, where Montesquieu raises objections, Rousseau offers praise. As soon as they are elected, it is a slave, it is nothing; see Rousseau, Social Contract, in Collected Writings, IV, 3.15, 192. After naming these passions in particular, Montesquieu immediately observes: Those who write on morality for us and so strongly proscribe the theaters make us feel sufficiently the power of music on our souls.Footnote16 Thus, Montesquieu here testifies to the power that theatre has over the feelings, and hence the actions, of human beings. 1 Ronald Grimsley, Jean d'Alembert (London, 1963), 5277. According to Montesquieu, it is exactly this tenderness [tendresse] that illustrates the power of the theatre over human beings.Footnote56 This softening of the mores, which Montesquieu sees as so valuable for producing human attachments, Rousseau finds unworthy of true men who will embrace and fulfil the duties of their polity.Footnote57 Thus, while Montesquieu uses Phaedra as an illustration of how theatre serves to eliminate moral ambiguity by reminding us of our natural morality, Rousseau uses the play to demonstrate drama's subversion of citizenship. In other words, it is easier to not have to deal with corrupted morality and have to change the laws accordingly. 37 Jean Racine, Phaedra, translated by Richard Wilbur (New York, NY, 1987) 5.1, 89. 2023 The Foundation for Constitutional Government Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. A theatre in Geneva would cause the hardworking people to be distracted and pre-occupied if they were to develop a taste for it. It offered a critique of d'Alembert's article on Geneva in the Encyclopdie. In addition, Montesquieu's treatment of the theatre seems to have been a fitting topic for Rousseau's engagement. But despite such an endorsement of the social order, the novel was revolutionary; its very free expression of emotions and its extreme sensibility deeply moved its large readership and profoundly influenced literary developments. Muralt offers a similar critique in his comments on France. [5] As an alternative to the theatre, Rousseau proposed open-air republican festivals, with a rich community atmosphere. Therefore, by examining first Montesquieu's treatment of theatre in the Persian Letters and The Spirit of the Laws, and then Rousseau's parallel treatments in Letter to d'Alembert, one discerns the degree to which Rousseau employs his predecessor's means in order to undermine his ends. Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! More importantly, in Discourse on InequalityRousseau is in many ways extremely negative about the progress of reason. They appreciate the routines of country life and enjoy the beauties of the Swiss and Savoyard Alps. 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. Therefore, theatres are of little use. 86 Letter, 298 (5: 59). Montesquieu devotes the entirety of Part 4 of Spirit to commerce and population. Rousseau initially declares at the beginning of the Letter that theatre only serves to intensify rather than change established morals, positing that drama would be good for the good and bad for the vicious.Footnote73 He ultimately revises his position, however, as he embraces Montesquieu's views both of the fundamental importance of mores in a given society and of the fact that different societies require different mores as well as different laws and institutions.Footnote74 This change of orientation occurs when Rousseau seems to adopt verbatim Montesquieu's formulation that mores and manners can be effectively changed not through direct legislation but less obtrusively through the introduction of other mores and manners, or via public opinion: matters of morals and universal justice are not arranged, as are those of private justice and strict right, by edicts and laws.Footnote75 This is nearly identical to Montesquieu's advice to the legislator in 19.14: when one wants to change the mores and manners, one must not change them by the laws [] it would be better to change them by other mores and other manners.Footnote76 Rousseau's discussion of the possible elimination of duels in France through the force of public opinion provides his readers with an example of spectacle appealing to amour-propre in such a way as to mitigate vice.Footnote77 Indeed, Rousseau declares in this context: I am convinced that we will never succeed in working these changes without bringing about the intervention of women, on whom men's way of thinking in large measure depends.Footnote78 Thus, not only does Rousseau confirm Montesquieu's teaching regarding the importance of mores, but he also expressly adopts Montesquieu's very conclusion regarding the importance of female society in effecting their change. Corrections? Vous souhaitez acheter Encyclopedie: Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1754; Copper engraving from: Diderot & d'Alembert 'Encyc? [4], In this section, Rousseau expresses his belief that actors and actresses themselves are people of an undesirable lifestyle and potentially weak moral foundation. 63 See Spirit, 28.22, 56162, where Montesquieu declares that men's connection to women is related, in part, to the fact that women are quite enlightened judges of a part of the things that constitute personal merit. Voltaire's propensity to organise theatrical performances at his residence in Les Dlices, just outside the city but within Geneva's territory, had occasioned concern among the pastors and the Consistory in 1755; see Graham Gargett, Jacob Vernet, Geneva, and the Philosophes (Oxford, 1994), 11520. As David Marshall points out, Rousseau explores throughout his works, and most explicitly in the Letter, theatrical relations enacted outside as well as inside the playhouse by people who face each other as actors and spectators. 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. Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. Rousseau is, however, reluctant to engage this discussion in depth.[3][6]. Rousseau's depictions of the theatre as well as his discussions of the role of women in both French and English society reveal that the Letter bears a striking resemblance to, and, in fact, appears to be a response to, aspects of Montesquieu's thought. Second, while Muralt does comment on the debauchery of Englishmen, he does not describe such an asocial and austere climate between men and women as Montesquieu depicts, which Rousseau then adopts. Charting Rousseau's influence is hard, simply because it was so vast. Ace your assignments with our guide to Discourse on Inequality! This work made final Rousseau's public break with most of the philosophes. Rousseau is often characterized as the father of Romanticism, as he opposed modernity and the Enlightenment and glorified the heroic ethos of Ancient Rome and Greece. Rousseau worked as a clerk to a notary, and then was apprenticed to an engraver. Want 100 or more? From 1742 to 1749, Rousseau lived in Paris, barely earning a living by teaching and by copying music. 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. 49 Bla Kapossy, Iselin contra Rousseau: Sociable Patriotism and the History of Mankind (Basel, 2006), 68. 57 theatre subverted the immediacy, the joyous spontaneity, the doux sentiment, of republican communion; see Forman-Barzilai, Emergence of Contextualism in Rousseau, 437. [1] He praised Geneva for its moral women, and its ordered familial sphere, while criticizing the women of the salons in France for making men womanly and cowardly. And indeed, Rousseau does seem to have recovered his peace of mind in his last years, when he was once again afforded refuge on the estates of great French noblemen, first the Prince de Conti and then the Marquis de Girardin, in whose park at Ermenonville he died. Baron dtange, Julies father, has indeed promised her to a fellow nobleman named Wolmar. Rousseau and D'Alembert managed to maintain their friendship after the response, though somewhat at a distance. In the remaining 10 years of his life Rousseau produced primarily autobiographical writings, mostly intended to justify himself against the accusations of his adversaries. If it did not exempt him from persecution, at least it ensured that his persecution was observed, and admiring femmes du monde intervened from time to time to help him so that Rousseau was never, unlike Voltaire and Diderot, actually imprisoned. Rousseau was the least academic of modern philosophers and in many ways was the most influential. ROUSSEAU Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theatre}.-}.Rousseau, Citizen ofGeneva TO M. d'A1embert, of the French Academy, The Royal Academy of Sci ences ofParis, the Prussian Academy, the Royal Society ofLondon, the Royal Academy of Literature of Sweden, and the Institute of Bologna; On his article Geneva in the seventh volume of fEncyclopedie and 46 In speaking of their thought generally, Larrre notes that whereas Rousseau agrees with Montesquieu about the difference between the monarchical and republican conditions of women, he does not agree with his normative assessment of these conditions; see Catherine Larrre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Women and Citizenship, History of European Ideas, 37 (2011), 21822 (218). He continues that a European spirit of gallantry that one can say was little known to the ancients grew out of this desire to please women. Whereas Montesquieu sees the theatre as a salutary way of teaching morality and sympathy, Rousseau condemns it as a corrupting influence. Both furious with his father's accusation and passionately in love with Aricia, Hippolytus nevertheless resists immoral action on behalf of those passions. Elizabeth Fallaize - 1999 - Sartre . 74 Various scholars have touched upon aspects of one or both of these points: see Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve, 5, 8082; Forman-Barzilai, Emergence of Contextualism in Rousseau's Political Thought, 45556, 442; Jensen, Rousseau's French Revolution, in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Grace and Kelly, 231, 238, 245; Rahe, Soft Despotism, 97; Michael Sonenscher, Sans-Culottes: An Eighteenth-Century Emblem in the French Revolution (Princeton, NJ, 2008), 15455. Paul Rahe captures the general influence of Montesquieu on Rousseau most powerfully: the very features of classical republicanism that had occasioned such misgivings on Montesquieu's part were the features that Rousseau found most attractive.Footnote11 Other scholars, who focus more intently on the Letter, discern Montesquieu's influence in Rousseau's formulation that some practices, including the theatre, can be appropriate and even wholesome for some societies while noxious for others, as well as in his insistence that mores are crucial in determining what types of laws and institutions a given people can tolerate and maintain.Footnote12 Despite these important insights, the scholarship has neglected to document the degree to which Rousseau's Letter is an extended meditation on Montesquieu's thought generally and Book 19 of The Spirit of the Laws particularly. Montesquieu makes the Parisian theatre a setting in his Persian Letters when his character Rica, a young Persian, describes his outing to this hub of French sociability. See also Coleman, who discerns the same influence, but who maintains that Rousseau's view of what Montesquieu calls l'esprit general is [] much less accommodating than that of the constitutional jurist; see Coleman, Rousseau's Political Imagination, 4445, note 6. 65 Letter, 311 (5: 74). Jean-Jacques Rousseau & Background on Discourse on Inequality, Philosophical Context: Influences on Discourse of Inequality. Towards the end of the afternoon, everyone assembles and goes to perform in a sort of show [une espce de scne], called, so I have heard, a play [comdie]. [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. Despite being treated unfairly, Hippolytus adheres to a steadfast set of moral principlesand the playwright makes sure that the audience is aware of this. Listen on ); Episode details. 3 Rousseau, Correspondance gnrale, ed. Remarkably, in his Letter to d'Alembert, Rousseau himself transmits this same assessment of the women in England, employing the very adjective that Montesquieu applies to them: English women are gentle and timid [timides].Footnote65 Nevertheless, where Montesquieu perceives this as having lamentable consequences for the English, Rousseau finds admirable results. 60 Spirit, 19.6, 311. 28 Spirit, 19.8, 311 (2:560). Thus, theatre serves to extenuate moral lapses. 2. See, for example, Clifford Orwin, Rousseau's Socratism, The Journal of Politics, 60 (1998), 17487 (180); J. S. Maloy, The Very Order of Things: Rousseau's Tutorial Republicanism, Polity, 37 (2005), 23561 (24142); Eric Nelson, The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought (Cambridge, 2004). Mchten Sie Encyclopedie: Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1754; Copper engraving from: Diderot & d'Alembert 'Encyc kaufen? In addition, the very foundation of Rousseau's concern for Geneva has a basis in Montesquieu's thought. [6] Rousseau's views on the theatre are also thought to echo current concerns with global entertainment, television and Internet taking over local customs and culture. Discount, Discount Code You'll be billed after your free trial ends. dAlembert sur les spectacles (1758; Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre) appeared in print, Rousseau had already left Paris to pursue a life closer to nature on the country estate of his friend Mme dpinay near Montmorency. Download Letter to D'Alembert and Writings for the Theater PDF . He writes that the actor is someone who is artificial, performs for money, subjects himself to disgrace, and abandons his role as a man. In the early 1750s, Rousseau had a string of successes. The central character, Saint-Preux, is a middle-class preceptor who falls in love with his upper-class pupil, Julie. Rousseau came under increasing attack, in print and in practice, from the French monarchy, Voltaire and many others. When the hospitality of Mme dpinay proved to entail much the same social round as that of Paris, Rousseau retreated to a nearby cottage, called Montlouis, under the protection of the Marchal de Luxembourg. It greatly deceives itself; it is free only during the election of the members of Parliament. [3], Rousseau generally opposed the Enlightenment thrust that was occurring during his lifetime. Rousseau devotes many pages to explaining the methods the tutor must use. The essay reconstructs the socioeconomic and political context of eighteenth-century Geneva in order to explain the intended meaning of Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert. 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