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THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY of JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU the Impossibilityof Reason

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THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY of JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU the Impossibilityof Reason qvortrup.cov 2/9/03 12:29 pm Page 1 Was Rousseau – the great theorist of the French Revolution – really a Conservative? THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU This original study argues that the author of The Social Contract was a constitutionalist much closer to Madison, Montesquieu and Locke than to revolutionaries. Outlining his profound opposition to Godless materialism and revolutionary change, this book finds parallels between Rousseau and Burke, as well as showing that Rousseau developed the first modern theory of nationalism. The book presents an inte- grated political analysis of Rousseau’s educational, ethical, religious and political writings. The book will be essential readings for students of politics, philosophy and the history of ideas. ‘No society can survive without mutuality. Dr Qvortrup’s book shows that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. It is an excellent primer for any- one wishing to understand how renewal of democracy hinges on a strong civil society’ The Rt. Hon. David Blunkett, MP ‘Rousseau has often been singled out as a precursor of totalitarian thought. Dr Qvortrup argues persuasively that Rousseau was nothing of the sort. Through an array of chapters the book gives an insightful account of Rousseau’s contribution to modern philosophy, and how he inspired individuals as diverse as Mozart, Tolstoi, Goethe, and Kant’ John Grey, Professor of European Political Thought,LSE ‘Qvortrup has written a highly readable and original book on Rousseau. He approaches the subject of Rousseau’s social and political philosophy with an attractively broad vision of Rousseau’s thought in the context of the development of modernity, including our contemporary concerns. He presents us with an important revisionary view of Rousseau, not as the radical egalitarian revolutionary democrat as standardly conceived, but as a compassionate conservative constitutionalist who is also the first and perhaps only political philosopher to have provided a well-worked out political philosophy of nationalism’ John Charvet, Professor of Political Science, LSE Qvortrup THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Mads Qvortrup earned his doctorate at the University of Oxford. Having OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU taught for several years at the London School of Economics, he was appointed head of the British government’s Comprehensive Gun Crime Review in 2003 The impossibilityof reason Cover illustration—Horror vacui by Christian Lemmerz, with permission from the Aarhus museum of Art Mads Qvortrup The political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Prelims000.p65 1 11/09/03, 13:31 Prelims000.p65 2 11/09/03, 13:31 The political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau The impossibility of reason Mads Qvortrup Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Prelims000.p65 3 11/09/03, 13:31 Copyright © Mads Qvortrup 2003 The right of Mads Qvortrup to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 0 7190 6580 1 hardback 0 7190 6581 X paperback First published 2003 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Typeset by Freelance Publishing Services, Brinscall, Lancs www.freelancepublishingservices.co.uk Printed in Great Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow Prelims000.p65 4 11/09/03, 13:31 Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis (Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness) Virgil, Aenied, I, 205 Prelims000.p65 5 11/09/03, 13:31 Prelims000.p65 6 11/09/03, 13:31 Contents Preface page ix Acknowledgements xiii Introduction and method xv 1 The politics of the soul: the life and times of Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1 2 The disenchantment of the world 19 3 Checks, balances and popular participation: Rousseau as a constitutionalist 48 4 A civic profession of faith: Rousseau’s and nationalism 74 5 The last of the ancients the first of the moderns? 95 6 Epilogue: in the beginning was song 111 Chronology of Rousseau’s life 117 Bibliography 120 Index 131 Prelims000.p65 7 11/09/03, 13:31 Prelims000.p65 8 11/09/03, 13:31 Preface There is a story behind every book. This one is no exception. Whilst a graduate student I worked on a doctorate on the practical impossibility of direct democracy. For rhetorical purposes I wanted to use Rousseau as a philosophical straw-man – i.e. as someone who defended the position I sought to reject. I browsed through the Discourse on Inequality and Du Contrat Social in search for incriminating quotes but found to my surprise (and subsequent delight) that my misgivings about the Genevan thinker had been both ill-informed and wrong. He did not conform to the stereotype as a native participationist, indeed he expressed the very same misgivings about direct democracy that I had reached. In short; Rousseau was closer to Montesquieu than to Robespierre. What I also found was that he had views about social cohesion, European integration (he was against), nationalism (he advocated it), free-trade (he opposed it), sustainable development (he promoted it), and secularism (he lamented it). In other words he took a stand on many of the issues that shape the political debate at the time of writing. This in itself, I found, made him worth studying. This book seeks to: present an overview of Rousseau’s political philosophy and its relation to his general philosophy (his philosophical development, an introduction to his main ideas on philosophy, religion, morality and education); place Rousseau’s thought in the context of different traditions in the history of West European thought; show that Rousseau’s political thinking was based on a profound (conservative) scepticism, which caused him to embrace institutional mechanisms that could prevent legislation; demonstrate that he shared Burke’s opposition to revolutionary change; show that he developed an early case for a nationalist ideology, which could perform the functions of civic religion. The book does not seek to end all discussion – it rather seeks the opposite; to begin a serious discussion of politics based on the insights of Prelims000.p65 9 11/09/03, 13:31 x Preface one of the foremost of the classics. All too often philosophy is becoming detached from everyday life. It is my hope that this book will show that philosophy can also be a practical discipline. As another great master, Karl Marx, once said: ‘The philosophers have merely interpreted the world differently. The point, however, is to change it’ (Marx 1983: 7). This book seeks to show that Rousseau’s political philosophy can make a positive contribution to this ‘change’ – though not in a way that Marx would have approved of. The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 presents an overview of Rousseau’s life and times. More than any other writer Rousseau’s philosophy has – rightly or wrongly – been associated with his life (as outlined in his many autobiographies). There is something to be said for this interpretation. Without an understanding of his life it is difficult to appreciate why he wrote the works he wrote, and what he sought to accomplish. Yet his biographers have often presented an incomplete account of his life, one based only on his own autobiographical writings. In Chapter 1 this tendency is challenged by using Rousseau’s letters and eyewitness accounts by comtempories as well as his autobiographical writings to paint a more nuanced picture of the Swiss philosopher. Chapter 1 also presents the range of Rousseau’s genius, which included operas, plays, novels, as well as political, economic, botanical and theological writings. Rousseau’s work is related to the geniuses who were inspired by his writings, such as Goethe, Kant and John F. Kennedy. In Chapter 2 we outline the major philosophical problem for Rousseau: the burden of modernity. An account is given of Rousseau’s place in the emerging world of modernity, and his opposition to secularism and scientism. It is shown how his general philosophical – and theological – opposition to modernity underpinned his moral philosophy. Unlike liberal, or utilitarian, thinkers (I use the term interchangeably) – Rousseau sought to base his moral judgements on emotions and sensibility, not on rational calculations. It is shown how this made him overcome the poverty of ethical theory that has characterised modernity – and how Rousseau invented post-modernism (with a pre-modern face). Chapter 2 also contains a section on Rousseau’s economic philosophy, in which it is shown that he – like Adam Smith – succeeded in transcending the economic theories of mercantilists and physiocrats. Yet Rousseau’s solution pointed in a direction that differed from that of his Scottish contemporary, especially in attacking free trade and defending a system of sustainable growth – including an awareness of environmental issues. Chapter 2 further presents an analysis of the relationship between Rousseau and Burke. Often seen as adversaries, Prelims000.p65 10 11/09/03, 13:31 Preface xi the chapter shows – and proves with extensive quotes – that Rousseau and Burke, in fact, were in agreement on the majority of issues, including opposition to revolutionary change, reverence for religion and a preference for gradual reform. Chapter 3 likewise breaks with traditional scholarship (or rather the lack of it!).
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