ROUSSEAU - INFLUENCES

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>ROUSSEAU</FONT><BR> HISTORIAN OF THE HEART</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Influences</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>QUARRELS</B></FONT><BR> Rousseau's emphasis on emotion over reason placed him at loggerheads with the general outlook of his day. His exploration of how man came to sublimate individual interests to the needs of society finds parallels with the speculation of the British philosophers, <A HREF="../t06/t06f12.html" TARGET="_top">Hobbes</A> and <A HREF="../13/13f01.html" TARGET="_top">Locke</A>. But his understanding of both "natural man" and of society differs significantly.<P> Rousseau's quarrels with his contemporaries were often more than philosophical. They were bitter and personal. He was at one time, a close friend of Diderot and contributed an article to his "Encyclopedia", but they fell out, each accusing the other of breaches of confidence. His visit with the philosopher <A HREF="../t06/t06f13.html" TARGET="_top">Hume</A>, who offered him a home in England, also ended in bitter argument.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>REVOLUTION</B></FONT><P> <TABLE ALIGN=Left BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1> <TR> <TD><IMG ALIGN=Left SRC="1405a.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="180" ALT="SUPREME BEING"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> His concept of the State as an entity higher than the citizens that live in it greatly influenced a generation of thinkers, and had much appeal to advocates of the French Revolution. Many see Rousseau's political philosophy as the inspiration for the intellectual movement that instigated the revolution (although, as <A HREF="../18/18f01.html" TARGET="_top">Marx</A> stressed, the revolution was as much related to economic pressures as to demands for political freedom). Still, echoes of Rousseau's philosophy are clear in the revolutionary slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and in Robespierre's concept of a Supreme Being, a republican deity that embodied civic virtue and opposition to tyranny, to whom choirs of citizens would sing hymns of praise.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>ROMANTICISM</B></FONT><BR> Rousseau's glorification of "man in nature" initiated a <A HREF="../t03/g046.html" TARGET="_top">Romantic</A> movement that would dominate much of art and literature for generations. The Romantics spurned the mechanistic view of a nature whose laws could be understood through scientific investigation. They sought a more direct and emotional relationship with nature. Less than twenty years after Rousseau's idealised picture of "natural man" was formulated, Tahiti and other Pacific islands were discovered. Early navigators like Bouganville, an admirer of Rousseau, saw here idyllic societies unsullied by science and technology, living examples of the harmony envisaged by Rousseau. The inhabitants were not dismissed as primitives to be pitied for their lack of civilised ways, but were idealised as "noble savages". Their life was to be envied not despised. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>