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Discourse on Inequality (1755)
Discourse on Inequality is one of the most powerful critiques of modernity ever written. Rousseau traces the psychological and political effects of modern society on human nature and demonstrates that human evolution and the development of inequality between men are closely related. The result is both a sweeping explanation of how modern man was created and a sharp criticism of unequal modern political institutions.
Èmile, or On Education (1762)
Rousseau’s Èmile, or On Education is a kind of half treatise, half novel that tells the life story of a fictional man named Èmile. In it, Rousseau traces the course of Èmile’s development and the education he receives, an education designed to create in him all the virtues of Rousseau’s idealized “natural man,” uncorrupted by modern society. According to Rousseau, the natural goodness of a man can be nurtured and maintained only according to this highly prescriptive model of education, and Rousseau states that his aim in Èmile is to outline that model—a model that differed sharply from all accepted forms of the time.
Èmile, or On Education is discussed in a one-section Summary & Analysis of ghe SparkNotes guide Selected Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Confessions (1782)
Rousseau states that his Confession is an attempt to present a self-portrait that is “in every way true to nature” and that hides nothing. Confessions sought to bare the entire life of its author subject, detailing all his imperfections, virtues, individual neuroses, and formative childhood experiences as a means of explaining and justifying the views and personality of his adult self. Rousseau’s emphasis on the effects of childhood experiences on adulthood, especially in relation to the development of sexuality, foreshadows the revolutionary psychological work of Sigmund Freud. Confessions is also the work considered most responsible for Rousseau’s frequent accreditation as the father of the romantic movement, for the degree to which he emphasizes the importance of subjective, individual, and sensory experience of the world.
Rousseau’s Confessions is discussed in a one-section Summary & Analysis of ghe SparkNotes guide Selected Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
