Rousseau: A Very Short Introduction ‘Robert Wokler presents the reader with an impressive overview of Rousseau and his works, demonstrating his mastery not only of the major writings, but also of numerous minor ones, which often throw important light on the author’s thinking.’ Jean Bloch, French Studies ‘One of the best-informed, most balanced, short general introductions to Rousseau . in English. Wokler’s study leaves a vivid impression of Rousseau’s uniqueness and originality as a thinker.’ Graeme Garrard, History of Political Thought ‘Wokler’s Rousseau provides a succinct yet remarkably comprehensive and reliable overview of the whole of Rousseau’s œuvre. He guides the reader briskly, confidently, but never obtrusively.’ Victor Gourevitch, Political Theory Very Short Introductions are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide. The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes – a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology. Very Short Introductions available now: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Continental Philosophy Julia Annas Simon Critchley THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE COSMOLOGY Peter Coles John Blair CRYPTOGRAPHY ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia Fred Piper and Sean Murphy ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn DADA AND SURREALISM ARCHITECTURE David Hopkins Andrew Ballantyne Darwin Jonathan Howard ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes Democracy Bernard Crick ART HISTORY Dana Arnold DESCARTES Tom Sorell ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland DRUGS Leslie Iversen THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH Martin Redfern ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY Atheism Julian Baggini Geraldine Pinch Augustine Henry Chadwick EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BARTHES Jonathan Culler BRITAIN Paul Langford THE BIBLE John Riches THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball BRITISH POLITICS EMOTION Dylan Evans Anthony Wright EMPIRE Stephen Howe Buddha Michael Carrithers ENGELS Terrell Carver BUDDHISM Damien Keown Ethics Simon Blackburn CAPITALISM James Fulcher The European Union THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe John Pinder CHOICE THEORY EVOLUTION Michael Allingham Brian and Deborah Charlesworth CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson FASCISM Kevin Passmore CLASSICS Mary Beard and THE FRENCH REVOLUTION John Henderson William Doyle CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard Freud Anthony Storr THE COLD WAR Galileo Stillman Drake Robert McMahon Gandhi Bhikhu Parekh GLOBALIZATION PLATO Julia Annas Manfred Steger POLITICS Kenneth Minogue HEGEL Peter Singer POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood David Miller HINDUISM Kim Knott POSTCOLONIALISM HISTORY John H. Arnold Robert Young HOBBES Richard Tuck POSTMODERNISM HUME A. J. Ayer Christopher Butler IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden POSTSTRUCTURALISM Indian Philosophy Catherine Belsey Sue Hamilton PREHISTORY Chris Gosden Intelligence Ian J. Deary PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY ISLAM Malise Ruthven Catherine Osborne JUDAISM Norman Solomon Psychology Gillian Butler and Jung Anthony Stevens Freda McManus KANT Roger Scruton QUANTUM THEORY KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner John Polkinghorne THE KORAN Michael Cook ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler LITERARY THEORY RUSSELL A. C. Grayling Jonathan Culler RUSSIAN LITERATURE LOCKE John Dunn Catriona Kelly LOGIC Graham Priest THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner S. A. Smith MARX Peter Singer SCHIZOPHRENIA MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone MEDIEVAL BRITAIN SCHOPENHAUER John Gillingham and Christopher Janaway Ralph A. Griffiths SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer MODERN IRELAND SOCIAL AND CULTURAL Senia Pasˇe t a ANTHROPOLOGY MOLECULES Philip Ball John Monaghan and Peter Just MUSIC Nicholas Cook SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner Socrates C. C. W. Taylor NINETEENTH-CENTURY SPINOZA Roger Scruton BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and STUART BRITAIN John Morrill H. C. G. Matthew TERRORISM Charles Townshend NORTHERN IRELAND THEOLOGY David F. Ford Marc Mulholland THE TUDORS John Guy paul E. P. Sanders TWENTIETH-CENTURY Philosophy Edward Craig BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Wittgenstein A. C. Grayling Samir Okasha WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman Available soon: AFRICAN HISTORY HIEROGLYPHS John Parker and Richard Rathbone Penelope Wilson ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw HIROSHIMA B. R. Tomlinson THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea HUMAN EVOLUTION BUDDHIST ETHICS Bernard Wood Damien Keown INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CHAOS Leonard Smith Paul Wilkinson CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead JAZZ Brian Morton CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy MANDELA Tom Lodge CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE MEDICAL ETHICS Robert Tavernor Tony Hope CLONING Arlene Judith Klotzko THE MIND Martin Davies CONTEMPORARY ART Myth Robert Segal Julian Stallabrass NATIONALISM Steven Grosby THE CRUSADES PERCEPTION Richard Gregory Christopher Tyerman PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION Derrida Simon Glendinning Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot DESIGN John Heskett PHOTOGRAPHY Dinosaurs David Norman Steve Edwards DREAMING J. Allan Hobson THE RAJ Denis Judd ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta THE RENAISSANCE THE END OF THE WORLD Jerry Brotton Bill McGuire RENAISSANCE ART EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn Geraldine Johnson THE FIRST WORLD WAR SARTRE Christina Howells Michael Howard THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR FREE WILL Thomas Pink Helen Graham FUNDAMENTALISM TRAGEDY Adrian Poole Malise Ruthven THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Habermas Gordon Finlayson Martin Conway For more information visit our web site www.oup.co.uk/vsi Robert Wokler ROUSSEAU A Very Short Introduction 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Robert Wokler 1995, 2001 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 1995 as an Oxford University Press paperback Reissued with corrections 1996 First published as a Very Short Introduction 2001 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 13.. 978–0–19–280198–2 ISBN 10.. 0–19–280198–8 57910864 Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall In memory of Isaiah Berlin This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements This work required not very much longer to complete than the eight weeks originally anticipated, but those weeks were assembled over a period of not much less than eight years. I have adapted a few pages from earlier publications, as follows: from ‘Rousseau’, in Political Thought from Plato to Nato (London, 1984), in chapter 1; from ‘The Discours sur les sciences et les arts and its Offspring’, in Reappraisals of Rousseau, ed. S. Harvey, M. Hobson, et al. (Manchester, 1980), and ‘Rousseau on Rameau and Revolution’, in Studies in the Eighteenth Century, vol. iv, ed. R. F. Brissenden and J. C. Eade (Canberra, 1979), in chapter 2; and from ‘Rousseau’s Two Concepts of Liberty’ in Lives, Liberties and the Public Good, ed. G. Feaver and F. Rosen (London, 1987), in chapter 4. Wherever possible, I have tried to incorporate corrections or improvements kindly drawn to my notice by John Hope Mason and Quentin Skinner. For his unimaginably patient forbearance in permitting me to attend to other publishing crises as they arose, and for his meticulous refinements of my style, I am indebted to Sir Keith Thomas. For their unstinting encouragement beyond all reasonable call of duty, my thanks are also due to my editors, Susie Casement and Catherine Clarke, at the Oxford University Press. For preparing a presentable typescript in the format required, I am grateful to Marilyn Dunn and Karen Hall. November 1993 I have taken the opportunity afforded by the addition of illustrations to this text to alter a few details, some for the sake of clarity, as well as to correct two errors drawn to my notice by my Japanese translator, Shuji Yamamoto. The appearance in recent years of new editions of Rousseau’s writings in both French and English has encouraged me to revise or append numerous references. Certain themes, particularly in chapters 1, 3, and 4, have been enlarged. Chapter 6, as close to emulating Rousseau’s own style as was in my power, subject also to the constraints of another language and the requirements of a work of contextual interpretation, includes