The Autocritique of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the Philosophes

This text provides an analysis of the life and works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an area often overlooked in accounts of 18th-century heritage. Mark Hulliung restores Rousseau to his historical context, the world of the philosophes, and shows how he employed the arsenal of Voltaire, Diderot and others to launch a powerful attack on their vision of the Enlightenment. With great intellectual skill and rhetorical force, Rousseau exposed the inconsistencies and shortcomings that called the entire programme of the Enlightenment into question: in the psychology of Locke, the genre of philosophical and conjectural history, the latest applications of science to the study of society and politics, and the growing interest in materialist modes of thought. As the century moved on, Hulliung argues, the most advanced philosophes found themselves drawn to conclusions that paralleled Rousseau's - an agreement that went unacknowledged in the acrimonious climate of the time. The Enlightenment that emerges here is richer, more nuanced, and more self-critical than the one reflected in current interpretations. By extracting Rousseau from the personal entanglements that stymied debate in his time and that mislead critics to this day, this study reveals the force of his accomplishment.