Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

A society is composed of citizens. If you want a strong and virtuous society, you must start at ground zero; with the citizen, with the child. This book by Rousseau is, in my mind, his epic masterpiece(notice I say his masterpiece, not necessarily a philosophic masterpiece, though that argument could be made, I think). This work is an amalgamation of all his best ideas, presented by way of a young boy named Emile. If you could raise a child the 'right way', Rousseau's way, you would have a nation of citizens that would form a society that was moral, valued self-expression and had pride in their community. This book can be viewed as a figurative allegory or a literal guidebook for how to raise a child, as I believe Rousseau wrote it with both in mind.

It is also, and most importantly I think, a critique of modern society. Rousseau was a decidedly anti-enlightenment thinker and his harsh and stinging words about the state of modern society during that time cut to the bone. He thought courage, bravery, and love of community had been replaced with pseudo-intellectualism, office jobs and mothers who dropped their babies off to nannies and took no time to instill in them the values that would shape a strong and upstanding society. Of course, modernization of the world has its benefits and the argument could be made that Rousseau was a man caught up in a fantasy of romantic notions of warrior societies, reminiscent of Sparta or Rome. Societies such as those were dying and in their place new ways of thinking, scientific methods and distrust of religion were growing. Many at the time viewed him as a man fixated on a fantasy and his famous feud with Voltaire through public letters highlighted the struggle between the culture of old and new.

Even so, Rousseau's words ring true to this day. One doesn't have to look far to see that with all the conveniences of modern society, there has also been a softening of our minds and bodies that seems a disappointing outcome to the millions of years of hard work, innovation and struggle our ancestors went through to develop new and better ways of living. Rousseau asks us not to let that spark of humanity die out in favor of comfort, convenience, fancy words and modern entertainments. This is my absolute favorite work by him and one that has inspired me in my personal life like few other philosophic texts have. "I do not draw my rules from the principles of high philosophy, but find them written by nature with ineffaceable characters in the depth of my heart" - Rousseau, Emile