Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith A Philosophical Encounter

298 Pages·2018·1.23 MB·English

by  Charles L. Griswold

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
Adam Smith
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith are giants of eighteenth-century
thought. The heated controversy provoked by their competing visions of
human nature and society still resonates today. Smith himself reviewed
Rousseau’s D iscourse on Inequality, and his perceptive remarks raise an
intriguing question: what would a conversation between these two great
thinkers look like?
In this outstanding book, Charles Griswold analyzes, compares, and eval-
uates some of the key ways in which Rousseau and Smith address what
could be termed “the question of the self.” Both thinkers discuss what we are
by nature (in particular, whether we are sociable or not), who we have
become, whether we can know ourselves or each other, how best to articu-
late the human condition, what it would mean to be free, and whether there
is anything that can be done to remedy our deeply imperfect condition. In
the course of examining their rich and contrasting views, Griswold puts
Rousseau and Smith in dialogue by imagining what they might say in reply
to one another. Griswold’s wide-ranging exploration includes discussion of
issues such as narcissism, self-falsifi cation, sympathy, the scope of philosophy,
and the relation between liberty, religion, and civic order.
A superb exploration of two major philosophers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
and Adam Smith: A Philosophical Encounter is essential reading for stu-
dents and scholars of these two fi gures, eighteenth-century philosophy, the
Enlightenment, moral philosophy, and the history of ideas. It will also be of
interest to those in related disciplines such as political theory, economics,
and religion.
Charles L. Griswold is Borden Parker Bowne Professor of Philosophy at
Boston University, USA. He is the author of S elf-knowledge in Plato’s
Phaedrus , A dam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment, and F orgiveness:
A Philosophical Exploration, editor of P latonic Writings, Platonic Readings,
and co-editor (with David Konstan) of Ancient Forgiveness: Classical,
Judaic, and Christian .
‘This is philosophy at its best. Charles Griswold has written a penetrating,
scholarly and closely argued account of some of the key questions that
animate the thinking of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith. His
sophisticated engagement with Rousseau and Smith not only advances
our knowledge of both fi gures, but also demonstrates why the problems
they raise and the solutions they proffer remain important to our own
contested times.’
Christopher J. Berry, U niversity of Glasgow, UK
‘By constructing a series of thought-provoking dialogues between Jean-
Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith, this impressive study sheds new light
on both thinkers, as well as on the character of the human self more broadly.
Griswold brings to each chapter his characteristic clarity, intellectual rigor,
and careful attention to the texts.’
Dennis Rasmussen, Tufts University, USA
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
Adam Smith
A Philosophical Encounter
Charles L. Griswold
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 Charles L. Griswold
The right of Charles L. Griswold to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Griswold, Charles L., 1951- author.
Title: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith: a philosophical encounter/
by Charles L Griswold.
Description: 1 [edition]. | New York: Routledge, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2017017998 | ISBN 9781138218956 (hardback: alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781315436579 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Self-knowledge, Theory of. | Self (Philosophy) | Rousseau,
Jean-Jacques, 1712–1778. | Smith, Adam, 1723–1790.
Classifi cation: LCC BD438.5.G755 2017 | DDC 192–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017017998
ISBN: 978-1-138-21895-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-43657-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
For Annice and Stephen
Unfortunately, what is precisely the least known to us is what it matters most
for us to know, namely man. We do not see either anyone else’s soul because
it is hidden, nor our own, because we do not have any intellectual mirror. We
are blind men at every point, but born blind men who do not imagine what
sight is, and, not believing that we lack any faculty, want to measure the
extremities of the world while our short sight, like our hands, reaches only
two feet from us.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A looking-glass, besides, can represent only present objects; and, when the
wonder is once fairly over, we choose, in all cases, rather to contemplate the
substance than to gaze at the shadow. One’s own face becomes then the most
agreeable object which a looking-glass can represent to us, and the only
object which we do not soon grow weary with looking at; it is the only pres-
ent object of which we can see only the shadow: whether handsome or ugly,
whether old or young, it is the face of a friend always, of which the features
correspond exactly with whatever sentiment, emotion, or passion we may
happen at that moment to feel.
Adam Smith
Contents
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations xiii
Prologue xvi
1 Narcissism, self-knowledge, and social critique:
from Rousseau’s Preface to Narcissus to Adam Smith 1
Introduction 1
1 The Preface and its relation to Narcissus 3
2 Rousseau’s Narcissus and Ovid’s Narcissus 7
(a) Rousseau’s Narcissus 7
(b) Ovid’s Narcissus 10
3 Narcissus and its Preface revisited 13
4 Rousseau’s self-staging: aims and the question of consistency 17
5 Narcissism, theatricality, and philosophy: Rousseau and
Smith in dialogue 19
2 Genealogical narrative, self-knowledge, and the
scope of philosophy 34
Introduction 34
1 Genealogical narrative and self-knowledge in
Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations
of Inequality among Men 37
(a) Why genealogy? Orienting considerations 37
(b) Problems of self-knowledge 44
(c) Illumination on the road to Vincennes 54
(d) Related features of the form and content of the
Second Discourse 61
(e) Genealogy, insight, practice 71
viii Contents
2 Enlightenment, self-knowledge, and practice:
a Smithean counter-story? 74
(a) Enlightenment, self-knowledge, and the scope
of philosophy 74
(b) Practice: the prospects for progress 88
3 Sociability, pitié, and sympathy 93
Introduction 93
1 Models of sociability and self-love: Smith’s
“A Letter to the Authors of the Edinburgh Review” 94
2 Rousseau: pitié, amour propre, and sociability 102
(a) Pitié in the state of nature 102
(b) The emergence of amour propre and sociability 106
3 Smith: the asocial “human creature,” ground-level
sociability, and sympathy 114
(a) Asociality, the social mirror, and imagination 115
(b) Sympathy, vision, and narrative 130
(b.i) Sympathy 130
(b.ii) Vision and narrative 135
4 (Mis)understanding selves: Rousseau and
Smith in dialogue 141
4 “To be” and “to appear”: self-falsifi cation,
exchange, and freedom 150
Introduction 150
1 Self-falsifi cation, being and appearing: Rousseau’s
argument unfolds 153
2 A reply to Rousseau: The Wealth of Nations on exchange 157
3 To be “within” rather than “outside” oneself:
Rousseau on freedom 160
4 A Rousseauian critique of The Wealth of Nations
on exchange 169
5 Being “outside” oneself, self-falsifi cation, and agency:
Smith on freedom 173
6 Freedom in theory and in practice: a coda 185
5 Liberty, civil religion, and “sentiments of sociability” 188
Introduction 188
1 Rousseau’s “civil profession of faith” in the Social Contract 190
2 Why civil religion? 200
Contents ix
3 Civil religion and liberty: problems internal to
Rousseau’s proposal 209
4 Smith’s marketplace of religions and the sentiment
of justice 220
5 Nature’s wisdom, natural goodness, and the love of
domination: a coda 243
Epilogue 248
Bibliography 255
Index 272