The Other Frenchman

Descartes is often credited with being the fountainhead of modern philosophy, but Robert Solomon suggess instead that the modern notion of the self comes from Rousseau: “What Rousseau discovered in the woods of France was a self so rich and substantial, so filled with good feelings and half-articulated good thoughts, so expansive, natural, and at peace with the universe, that he recognized it immediately as something much more than HIS singular self. It was rather the Self as such, the soul of humanity. Looking deeply into himself Rousseau discovered the self that he shared with all men and women the world over, and declared that it was good ?Eintrinsically good, despite all of the artifices and superficialities of the social whirl. In nearby Paris it might be difficult to see past the corruption and vain conventionality of modern society, but out there, free, alone, and at peace with one’s nature, it was rather our innocence that was so apparent, a natural goodness that survived the sins and humiliations of social life, a true and absolute self that was not each person’s alone, but which was shared with all humanity.

“What Rousseau discovered ?Eor at any rate raised to the level of first-rate philosophy ?Ewas the transcendental pretence. It appeared as innocence and common sense, but it embodied a profound arrogance that promoted self-righteousness, prohibited mutual understanding, and belied human diversity. Fully developed, the transcendal pretence had two central components: first, the remarkable inner richness and expanse of the self, ultimately encompassing everything; and secondly, the consequent right to project from the subjective structures of one’s own mind, and ascertain the nature of humanity as cuh. It is suggestive that the transcendental pretence was discovered by a sociopath, free and alone with his self-aggrandizement, but one who inspired some of the most spectacular and successful philosophy that the world has ever known.”