Abandoned to Ourselves

549 Pages·2013·3.77 MB·English

by  Peter Alexander Meyers

Abandoned to Ourselves
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Abandoned
to Ourselves,
(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)
being an essay on the emergence and
implications of SOCIOLOGY in
the writings of
MR. JEANJACQUES ROUSSEAU,
with special attention to his claims about
the moral significance of dependence in the
composition and self-transformation
of the social bond, & aimed to uncover the
tension between those two perspectives—
CREATIONISM &
SOCIAL EVOLUTION—
that remains embedded in our
common sense & which still impedes
the human science of politics. . . .
(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)
PETER ALEXANDER MEYERS
New Haven and London
Published with assistance from the Annie Burr Lewis Fund.
Copyright © 2013 by Peter Alexander Meyers.
All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyers, Peter Alexander.
Abandoned to ourselves : being an essay on the emergence and implications of sociology
in the writings of Mr. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, with special attention to his claims about the
moral significance of dependence in the composition and self-transformation of the social
bond, & aimed to uncover the tension between those two perspectives—creationism
& social evolution—that remains embedded in our common sense & which still
impedes the human science of politics. . . . / Peter Alexander Meyers.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-17205-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712–1778—Political and social views.
2. Political sociology. I. Title.
JC179.R9M49 2012
306.2—dc23
2011048887
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10(cid:17)9(cid:17)8(cid:17)7(cid:17)6(cid:17)5(cid:17)4(cid:17)3(cid:17)2(cid:17)1
Abandoned to Ourselves
Nous disions qu’il n’est nullement probable, que le Créateur bon & sage, ait aban-
donné l’homme à lui-même, sans guide & sans direction pour sa conduite. . . .
Que seroit l’homme & la Société, si chacun étoit tellement le maître de ses ac-
tions, qu’il pût tout faire à son gré & n’avoir d’autre principe de conduite que son
caprice ou ses passions? Supposez que Dieu abandonnant l’homme à lui-même,
ne lui eut effectivement prescrit aucune Régle de vie, & ne l’eut assujetti à aucune
Loi.
Principes du droit naturel (1747, 163 & 158)
Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
La plus utile et la moins avancée de toutes les connoissances humaines me paroît
être celle de l’homme, et j’ose dire que la seule inscription du Temple de Delphes
contenoit un Précepte plus important et plus difficile que tous les gros Livres des
Moralistes. . . . l’étude serieuse de l’homme, de ses facultés naturelles, et de leurs dé-
veloppemens successifs, . . . . les recherches Politiques et morales . . . consid[èrent]
ce que nous serions devenus, abandonnés à nous-mêmes.
Discours sur l’origine et les fondemens de l’inégalité
parmi les hommes (1755, OC III.122, 127)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Hommes, soyez humains, c’est vôtre prémier devoir: soyez-le pour tous les états,
pour tous les âges, pour tout ce qui n’est pas étranger à l’homme. Quelle sagesse y
a-t-il pour vous hors de l’humanité?
Émile (1762, OC IV, 302)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
We would say that it is hardly probable that the Creator, good and wise, had
abandoned Man to himself, without guide and without direction for his conduct
. . . What would Man and society be, if everyone was so much the master of his
actions that he could do everything according to his own designs and have no
other principle of conduct than his caprice and his passions? Suppose that God,
abandoning mankind to ourselves, had effectively prescribed no rule of life for
us, and had subjected us to no law.
Principes du droit naturel (1747, 163 & 158)
Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
The most useful and least advanced area of all human knowledge seems to me to
be Man himself, and I dare say that the lone inscription at the Temple of Delphi
contained a precept more important and more difficult than all the fat books of
the Moralists. . . . The serious study of Man, of his natural faculties and their suc-
cessive developments, . . . . research into political and moral life. . . . considers
what we would have become, abandoned to ourselves.
Discours sur l’origine et les fondemens de l’inégalité
parmi les hommes (1755, OC III.122, 127)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Men, be human, that is your primary duty: be human for every circumstance,
for every age, for everything that is not foreign to mankind. What wisdom is there
for you besides humanity?
Émile (1762, OC IV, 302)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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General Contents
Detailed Contents(cid:17)xi
Acknowledgments(cid:17)xv
Note on Sources and Uses of Words(cid:17)xvii
Foreword(cid:17)xix
PART I(cid:7)“SOCIETY” AS THE ETHICAL STARTING POINT
FOR POLITICAL INQUIRY(cid:17)1
APPENDIX TO PART ONE: The Text of Rousseau’s “Main Passage”(cid:17)66
PART II(cid:7)THE MORAL RELEVANCE OF DEPENDENCE(cid:17)69
A. Dependence and the “Formula for Happiness”(cid:17)71
B. “Il y a Deux Sortes de Dépendance . . .”(cid:17)123
PART III(cid:7)NATURE AND THE MORAL FRAME OF SOCIETY(cid:17)155
PART IV(cid:7)MORALITY IN THE ORDER OF THE WILL(cid:17)225
A. Ordre Comes to the Foreground(cid:17)227
B. The Rhetorical Structure of Ordre(cid:17)269
C. Ordre as the Deployment of Ambivalence(cid:17)292
D. Variations on the Will(cid:17)314
E. The Gravity of Dependence(cid:17)339
ix