Rousseau and the Phlosophes: Immanent Critique

Rousseau the Critic Despite his radical critique of Enlightenment, Jean Jacques Rousseau belongs to it. He remained loyal to the Enlightenment in two important ways, despite this disagreement over certain "fundamental" beliefs. The first was in his commitment to the authority of reason and its ability to help the thinker reach his conclusions independently. He shared the commitment to a program of research that was common to the entire philosophical movement. Second, Rousseau was also …

…of laws by which man could live within a community free of the deception of "civility." In a world where man follows laws that are equal and just, he will not worry about what others, amour-propre can fade away. But the elements of Parisian society, such as the salons of Voltaire, only serve to degrade man and reinforce that corrupt form of self-love, and the philosophes are fooling themselves if they do not see it.