The Collected Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau E-Book

Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Herausgeber: PergamonMedia
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Highlights of World Literature
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 5909

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works - the Œuvre - of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook - 6650 pages easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate: • The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau • Emile • The Social Contract & Discourses • Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes. • Émile; Or, Concerning Education; Extracts • Quotes and Images From The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

THE CONFESSIONS OF JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

THE CONFESSIONS

BOOK I.

BOOK II.

BOOK III.

BOOK IV.

BOOK V.

BOOK VI.

BOOK VII.

BOOK VIII.

BOOK IX.

BOOK X.

BOOK XI.

BOOK XII.

EMILE

BOOK I

BOOK II

THE FOX AND THE CROW

A FABLE

BOOK III

BOOK IV

THE CREED OF A SAVOYARD PRIEST

BOOK V

SOPHY, OR WOMAN

OF TRAVEL

THE CONFESSIONS OF JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

THE CONFESSIONS

BOOK I.

BOOK II.

BOOK III.

BOOK IV.

BOOK V.

BOOK VI.

BOOK VII.

BOOK VIII.

BOOK IX.

BOOK X.

BOOK XI.

BOOK XII.

ÉMILE:

OR, CONCERNING EDUCATION

EXTRACTS

CONTAINING THE PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY FOUND IN THE FIRST THREE BOOKS; WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

JULES STEEG, DÉPUTÉ, PARIS, FRANCE

TRANSLATED BY

ELEANOR WORTHINGTON

FORMERLY OF THE COOK COUNTY (ILL.) NORMAL SCHOOL

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON — NEW YORK — CHICAGO

Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1888, by GINN, HEATH, & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Printed in U. S. A.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

INTRODUCTION.

BOOK FIRST.

GENERAL REMARKS.

The Object of Education.

The New-born Child.

The Earliest Education.

Maxims to Keep us True to Nature.

Language.

BOOK SECOND.

Avoid taking too many Precautions.

Childhood is to be Loved.

Neither Slaves nor Tyrants.

Reasoning should not begin too soon.

Well-Regulated Liberty.

Proceed Slowly.

The Idea of Property.

Falsehood. The Force of Example.

Negative or Temporizing Education.

Concerning the Memory.

On the Study of Words.

Physical Training.

Clothing.

Sleep.

Exercise of the Senses.

The Sense of Touch.

The Sense of Sight.

Drawing.

Geometry.

Hearing.

The Voice.

The Sense of Taste.

Result. The Pupil at the Age of Ten or Twelve.

BOOK THIRD.

The Age of Study.

The Incentive of Curiosity.

Things Rather than their Signs.

Imparting a Taste for Science.

The Juggler.

Experimental Physics.

Nothing to be Taken upon Authority. Learning from the Pupil's own Necessities.

Finding out the East. The Forest of Montmorency.

Robinson Crusoe.

Judging from Appearances. The Broken Stick.

Result. The Pupil at the Age of Fifteen.

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT & DISCOURSES

INTRODUCTION

A NOTE ON BOOKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONTENTS

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

OR

PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL

RIGHT

Fœderis æquas

Dicamus leges. (Vergil, Æneid XI.)

FOREWORD

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

SUBJECT OF THE FIRST BOOK

CHAPTER II

THE FIRST SOCIETIES

CHAPTER III

THE RIGHT OF THE STRONGEST

CHAPTER IV

SLAVERY

CHAPTER V

THAT WE MUST ALWAYS GO BACK TO A FIRST CONVENTION

CHAPTER VI

THE SOCIAL COMPACT

CHAPTER VII

THE SOVEREIGN

CHAPTER VIII

THE CIVIL STATE

CHAPTER IX

REAL PROPERTY

BOOK II

CHAPTER I

THAT SOVEREIGNTY IS INALIENABLE

CHAPTER II

THAT SOVEREIGNTY IS INDIVISIBLE

CHAPTER III

WHETHER THE GENERAL WILL IS FALLIBLE

CHAPTER IV

THE LIMITS OF THE SOVEREIGN POWER

CHAPTER V

THE RIGHT OF LIFE AND DEATH

CHAPTER VI

LAW

CHAPTER VII

THE LEGISLATOR

CHAPTER VIII

THE PEOPLE

CHAPTER IX

THE PEOPLE (continued)

CHAPTER X

THE PEOPLE (continued)

CHAPTER XI

THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF LEGISLATION

CHAPTER XII

THE DIVISION OF THE LAWS

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL

CHAPTER II

THE CONSTITUENT PRINCIPLE IN THE VARIOUS FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER III

THE DIVISION OF GOVERNMENTS

CHAPTER IV

DEMOCRACY

CHAPTER V

ARISTOCRACY

CHAPTER VI

MONARCHY

CHAPTER VII

MIXED GOVERNMENTS

CHAPTER VIII

THAT ALL FORMS OF GOVERNMENT DO NOT SUIT ALL COUNTRIES

CHAPTER IX

THE MARKS OF A GOOD GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER X

THE ABUSE OF GOVERNMENT AND ITS TENDENCY TO DEGENERATE

CHAPTER XI

THE DEATH OF THE BODY POLITIC

CHAPTER XII

HOW THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY MAINTAINS ITSELF

CHAPTER XIII

THE SAME (continued)

CHAPTER XIV

THE SAME (continued)

CHAPTER XV

DEPUTIES OR REPRESENTATIVES

CHAPTER XVI

THAT THE INSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT IS NOT A CONTRACT

CHAPTER XVII

THE INSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XVIII

HOW TO CHECK THE USURPATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

BOOK IV

CHAPTER I

THAT THE GENERAL WILL IS INDESTRUCTIBLE

CHAPTER II

VOTING

CHAPTER III

ELECTIONS

CHAPTER IV

THE ROMAN COMITIA

CHAPTER V

THE TRIBUNATE

CHAPTER VI

THE DICTATORSHIP

CHAPTER VII

THE CENSORSHIP

CHAPTER VIII

CIVIL RELIGION

CHAPTER IX

CONCLUSION

A DISCOURSE

WHICH WON THE PRIZE AT THE ACADEMY OF DIJON IN 1750, ON THIS QUESTION PROPOSED BY THE ACADEMY:

HAS THE RESTORATION OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES HAD A PURIFYING EFFECT UPON MORALS?

Barbaras his ego sum, qui non intelligor illis.—OVID.[1]

PREFACE

MORAL EFFECTS OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

Decipimur specie recti.—HORACE.

THE FIRST PART

THE SECOND PART

A DISCOURSE

ON A SUBJECT PROPOSED BY THE ACADEMY OF DIJON:

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF INEQUALITY AMONG MEN, AND IS IT AUTHORISED BY NATURAL LAW?

DEDICATION

TO THE

REPUBLIC OF GENEVA

PREFACE

A DISSERTATION

ON THE ORIGIN AND FOUNDATION OF THE INEQUALITY OF MANKIND

THE FIRST PART

THE SECOND PART

APPENDIX[1]

A DISCOURSE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY

ROUSSEAU

BY

JOHN MORLEY

VOLUMES I and II.

ROUSSEAU

JOHN MORLEY

VOL. I.

NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.

Preliminary.

CHAPTER V.

The Discourses.

CHAPTER VI.

Paris.

CHAPTER VII.

The Hermitage.

CHAPTER VIII.

Music.

CHAPTER IX.

Voltaire And D'Alembert.

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

PRINCIPAL WRITINGS.

ROUSSEAU.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY.

CHAPTER II

YOUTH.

CHAPTER III.

SAVOY.

I.

II.

III.

CHAPTER IV.

THERESA LE VASSEUR.

CHAPTER V.

THE DISCOURSES.

II.

CHAPTER VI.

PARIS.

I.

II.

CHAPTER VII.

THE HERMITAGE.

I.

II.

III.

CHAPTER VIII.

MUSIC.

CHAPTER IX.

VOLTAIRE AND D'ALEMBERT.

II.

ROUSSEAU

BY

JOHN MORLEY

VOL. II.

ROUSSEAU.

CHAPTER I.

MONTMORENCY—THE NEW HELOÏSA.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER II.

PERSECUTION.[94]

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER III.

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IV.

EMILIUS.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER V.

THE SAVOYARD VICAR.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VI.

ENGLAND.[350]

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VII.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

THE CONFESSIONS OF JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

Among the notable books of later times-we may say, without exaggeration, of all time—must be reckoned The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau. It deals with leading personages and transactions of a momentous epoch, when absolutism and feudalism were rallying for their last struggle against the modern spirit, chiefly represented by Voltaire, the Encyclopedists, and Rousseau himself—a struggle to which, after many fierce intestine quarrels and sanguinary wars throughout Europe and America, has succeeded the prevalence of those more tolerant and rational principles by which the statesmen of our own day are actuated.

On these matters, however, it is not our province to enlarge; nor is it necessary to furnish any detailed account of our author's political, religious, and philosophic axioms and systems, his paradoxes and his errors in logic: these have been so long and so exhaustively disputed over by contending factions that little is left for even the most assiduous gleaner in the field. The inquirer will find, in Mr. John Money's excellent work, the opinions of Rousseau reviewed succinctly and impartially. The 'Contrat Social', the 'Lattres Ecrites de la Montagne', and other treatises that once aroused fierce controversy, may therefore be left in the repose to which they have long been consigned, so far as the mass of mankind is concerned, though they must always form part of the library of the politician and the historian. One prefers to turn to the man Rousseau as he paints himself in the remarkable work before us.

That the task which he undertook in offering to show himself—as Persius puts it—'Intus et in cute', to posterity, exceeded his powers, is a trite criticism; like all human enterprises, his purpose was only imperfectly fulfilled; but this circumstance in no way lessens the attractive qualities of his book, not only for the student of history or psychology, but for the intelligent man of the world. Its startling frankness gives it a peculiar interest wanting in most other autobiographies.

Many censors have elected to sit in judgment on the failings of this strangely constituted being, and some have pronounced upon him very severe sentences. Let it be said once for all that his faults and mistakes were generally due to causes over which he had but little control, such as a defective education, a too acute sensitiveness, which engendered suspicion of his fellows, irresolution, an overstrained sense of honour and independence, and an obstinate refusal to take advice from those who really wished to befriend him; nor should it be forgotten that he was afflicted during the greater part of his life with an incurable disease.

Lord Byron had a soul near akin to Rousseau's, whose writings naturally made a deep impression on the poet's mind, and probably had an influence on his conduct and modes of thought: In some stanzas of 'Childe Harold' this sympathy is expressed with truth and power; especially is the weakness of the Swiss philosopher's character summed up in the following admirable lines:

"Here the self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau,

The apostle of affliction, he who threw

Enchantment over passion, and from woe

Wrung overwhelming eloquence, first drew

The breath which made him wretched; yet he knew

How to make madness beautiful, and cast

O'er erring deeds and thoughts a heavenly hue

Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they passed

The eyes, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast.

"His life was one long war with self-sought foes,

Or friends by him self-banished; for his mind

Had grown Suspicion's sanctuary, and chose,

For its own cruel sacrifice, the kind,

'Gainst whom he raged with fury strange and blind.

But he was frenzied,-wherefore, who may know?

Since cause might be which skill could never find;

But he was frenzied by disease or woe

To that worst pitch of all, which wears a reasoning show."

One would rather, however, dwell on the brighter hues of the picture than on its shadows and blemishes; let us not, then, seek to "draw his frailties from their dread abode." His greatest fault was his renunciation of a father's duty to his offspring; but this crime he expiated by a long and bitter repentance. We cannot, perhaps, very readily excuse the way in which he has occasionally treated the memory of his mistress and benefactress. That he loved Madame de Warens—his 'Mamma'—deeply and sincerely is undeniable, notwithstanding which he now and then dwells on her improvidence and her feminine indiscretions with an unnecessary and unbecoming lack of delicacy that has an unpleasant effect on the reader, almost seeming to justify the remark of one of his most lenient critics—that, after all, Rousseau had the soul of a lackey. He possessed, however, many amiable and charming qualities, both as a man and a writer, which were evident to those amidst whom he lived, and will be equally so to the unprejudiced reader of the Confessions. He had a profound sense of justice and a real desire for the improvement and advancement of the race. Owing to these excellences he was beloved to the last even by persons whom he tried to repel, looking upon them as members of a band of conspirators, bent upon destroying his domestic peace and depriving him of the means of subsistence.

Those of his writings that are most nearly allied in tone and spirit to the 'Confessions' are the 'Reveries d'un Promeneur Solitaire' and 'La Nouvelle Heloise'. His correspondence throws much light on his life and character, as do also parts of 'Emile'. It is not easy in our day to realize the effect wrought upon the public mind by the advent of 'La Nouvelle Heloise'. Julie and Saint-Preux became names to conjure with; their ill-starred amours were everywhere sighed and wept over by the tender-hearted fair; indeed, in composing this work, Rousseau may be said to have done for Switzerland what the author of the Waverly Novels did for Scotland, turning its mountains, lakes and islands, formerly regarded with aversion, into a fairyland peopled with creatures whose joys and sorrows appealed irresistibly to every breast. Shortly after its publication began to flow that stream of tourists and travellers which tends to make Switzerland not only more celebrated but more opulent every year. It, is one of the few romances written in the epistolary form that do not oppress the reader with a sense of languor and unreality; for its creator poured into its pages a tide of passion unknown to his frigid and stilted predecessors, and dared to depict Nature as she really is, not as she was misrepresented by the modish authors and artists of the age. Some persons seem shy of owning an acquaintance with this work; indeed, it has been made the butt of ridicule by the disciples of a decadent school. Its faults and its beauties are on the surface; Rousseau's own estimate is freely expressed at the beginning of the eleventh book of the Confessions and elsewhere. It might be wished that the preface had been differently conceived and worded; for the assertion made therein that the book may prove dangerous has caused it to be inscribed on a sort of Index, and good folk who never read a line of it blush at its name. Its "sensibility," too, is a little overdone, and has supplied the wits with opportunities for satire; for example, Canning, in his 'New Morality':

"Sweet Sensibility, who dwells enshrined

In the fine foldins of the feeling mind....

Sweet child of sickly Fancy!-her of yore

From her loved France Rousseau to exile bore;

And while 'midst lakes and mountains wild he ran,

Full of himself, and shunned the haunts of man,

Taught her o'er each lone vale and Alpine, steep

To lisp the story of his wrongs and weep."

As might be imagined, Voltaire had slight sympathy with our social reformer's notions and ways of promulgating them, and accordingly took up his wonted weapons—sarcasm and ridicule—against poor Jean-Jacques. The quarrels of these two great men cannot be described in this place; but they constitute an important chapter in the literary and social history of the time. In the work with which we are immediately concerned, the author seems to avoid frequent mention of Voltaire, even where we should most expect it. However, the state of his mind when he penned this record of his life should be always remembered in relation to this as well as other occurrences.

Rousseau had intended to bring his autobiography down to a later date, but obvious causes prevented this: hence it is believed that a summary of the chief events that marked his closing years will not be out of place here.

On quitting the Ile de Saint-Pierre he travelled to Strasbourg, where he was warmly received, and thence to Paris, arriving in that city on December 16, 1765. The Prince de Conti provided him with a lodging in the Hotel Saint-Simon, within the precincts of the Temple—a place of sanctuary for those under the ban of authority. 'Every one was eager to see the illustrious proscript, who complained of being made a daily show, "like Sancho Panza in his island of Barataria." During his short stay in the capital there was circulated an ironical letter purporting to come from the Great Frederick, but really written by Horace Walpole. This cruel, clumsy, and ill-timed joke angered Rousseau, who ascribed it to, Voltaire. A few sentences may be quoted:

"My Dear Jean-Jacques,—You have renounced Geneva, your native place. You have caused your expulsion from Switzerland, a country so extolled in your writings; France has issued a warrant against you: so do you come to me. My states offer you a peaceful retreat. I wish you well, and will treat you well, if you will let me. But, if you persist in refusing my help, do not reckon upon my telling any one that you did so. If you are bent on tormenting your spirit to find new misfortunes, choose whatever you like best. I am a king, and can procure them for you at your pleasure; and, what will certainly never happen to you in respect of your enemies, I will cease to persecute you as soon as you cease to take a pride in being persecuted. Your good friend,"FREDERICK."

Early in 1766 David Hume persuaded Rousseau to go with him to England, where the exile could find a secure shelter. In London his appearance excited general attention. Edmund Burke had an interview with him and held that inordinate vanity was the leading trait in his character. Mr. Davenport, to whom he was introduced by Hume, generously offered Rousseau a home at Wootton, in Staffordshire, near the, Peak Country; the latter, however, would only accept the offer on condition that he should pay a rent of L 30 a year. He was accorded a pension of L 100 by George III., but declined to draw after the first annual payment. The climate and scenery of Wootton being similar to those of his native country, he was at first delighted with his new abode, where he lived with Therese, and devoted his time to herborising and inditing the first six books of his Confessions. Soon, however, his old hallucinations acquired strength, and Rousseau convinced himself that enemies were bent upon his capture, if not his death. In June, 1766, he wrote a violent letter to Hume, calling him "one of the worst of men." Literary Paris had combined with Hume and the English Government to surround him—as he supposed—with guards and spies; he revolved in his troubled mind all the reports and rumours he had heard for months and years; Walpole's forged letter rankled in his bosom; and in the spring of 1767 he fled; first to Spalding, in Lincolnshire, and subsequently to Calais, where he landed in May.

On his arrival in France his restless and wandering disposition forced him continually to change his residence, and acquired for him the title of "Voyageur Perpetuel." While at Trye, in Gisors, in 1767—8, he wrote the second part of the Confessions. He had assumed the surname of Renou, and about this time he declared before two witnesses that Therese was his wife—a proceeding to which he attached the sanctity of marriage. In 1770 he took up his abode in Paris, where he lived continuously for seven years, in a street which now bears his name, and gained a living by copying music. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, the author of 'Paul and Virginia', who became acquainted with him in 1772, has left some interesting particulars of Rousseau's daily mode of life at this period. Monsieur de Girardin having offered him an asylum at Ermemonville in the spring of 1778, he and Therese went thither to reside, but for no long time. On the 3d of July, in the same year, this perturbed spirit at last found rest, stricken by apoplexy. A rumor that he had committed suicide was circulated, but the evidence of trustworthy witnesses, including a physician, effectually contradicts this accusation. His remains, first interred in the Ile des Peupliers, were, after the Revolution, removed to the Pantheon. In later times the Government of Geneva made some reparation for their harsh treatment of a famous citizen, and erected his statue, modelled by his compatriot, Pradier, on an island in the Rhone.

"See nations, slowly wise and meanly just,To buried merit raise the tardy bust."

November, 1896.S. W. ORSON.

THE CONFESSIONS

OF

J. J. ROUSSEAU

BOOK I.

I have entered upon a performance which is without example, whose accomplishment will have no imitator. I mean to present my fellow-mortals with a man in all the integrity of nature; and this man shall be myself.

I know my heart, and have studied mankind; I am not made like any one I have been acquainted with, perhaps like no one in existence; if not better, I at least claim originality, and whether Nature did wisely in breaking the mould with which she formed me, can only be determined after having read this work.

Whenever the last trumpet shall sound, I will present myself before the sovereign judge with this book in my hand, and loudly proclaim, thus have I acted; these were my thoughts; such was I. With equal freedom and veracity have I related what was laudable or wicked, I have concealed no crimes, added no virtues; and if I have sometimes introduced superfluous ornament, it was merely to occupy a void occasioned by defect of memory: I may have supposed that certain, which I only knew to be probable, but have never asserted as truth, a conscious falsehood. Such as I was, I have declared myself; sometimes vile and despicable, at others, virtuous, generous and sublime; even as thou hast read my inmost soul: Power eternal! assemble round thy throne an innumerable throng of my fellow-mortals, let them listen to my confessions, let them blush at my depravity, let them tremble at my sufferings; let each in his turn expose with equal sincerity the failings, the wanderings of his heart, and, if he dare, aver, I was better than that man.

I was born at Geneva, in 1712, son of Isaac Rousseau and Susannah Bernard, citizens. My father's share of a moderate competency, which was divided among fifteen children, being very trivial, his business of a watchmaker (in which he had the reputation of great ingenuity) was his only dependence. My mother's circumstances were more affluent; she was daughter of a Mons. Bernard, minister, and possessed a considerable share of modesty and beauty; indeed, my father found some difficulty in obtaining her hand.