Who was Jean Jacques Rousseau? If you asked me this question before I started my university career I would have said, “I don’t know” or maybe at best, “I think he was a part of the Enlightenment.” Even the latter notion is arguably false. Was Rousseau an enlightened thinker? If you automatically think “yes,” think about it some more. What were the trends of the eighteenth century enlightened thinkers? Many times Rousseau went against people’s perceived principles of the Enlightenment. In fact, he became renowned only after writing his essay titled the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences. This essay argued that the arts and sciences were corrupting society, when everyone else in this era argued it was doing the opposite.
Rousseau arguably did not see the Enlightenment as a very enlightening time. In his second discourse known as the Discourse on Inequality one of the things Rousseau argued was how people have become corrupted because of technology. On initially pondering his thought, you think the man is crazy. However, if you place it in a modern context it may make a little more sense. A few months ago our home teachers visited and they shared a spiritually “enlightening” thought with us. They viewed today’s society and all the wonderful technology we possess as potentially corrosive. They pointed out that how would the world function without the internet or how would fellow university students cope without using their cell phones for two weeks? Many people absentmindedly say they couldn’t live without facebook, email, texting, cell phones, internet, and google. Little did the home teachers know, Rousseau thought of this principle before.
Technology has removed us so far from our natural state as human beings. For example, my father gets worried when someone doesn’t text him back within 20 minutes. He starts to think “are they mad at me” or “maybe they are hurt.” If you think my father borders on the line of genius and insanity you could be right, but how many people in YSA text that “potentially” special someone without receiving an immediate reply and think “uh-ho.” Anyways, my point is that of course we can live without these things, but today’s technology has made us soft. I for one would struggle without these luxuries technology has given us. Writing an essay on Rousseau would become exponentially difficult!
In conclusion Rousseau is a genius. Little did I know of the wealth of knowledge I was about to discover upon entering my first university class. It is because of his brilliance that I dedicate my first ever blog to him. If I were a drinking man, I would say to Rousseau, “this Bud’s for you.”
