Rousseau_CHN

or Hume vs. Rousseau

In another forum someone said that I should avoid Rousseau as much as possible, because he is a jerk. He was able to piss everybody off, including Hume.

"He was able to piss Hume..." That is true but only half the story; the other half is that Hume pissed Rousseau, too*. The two were an odd couple from the start, why Hume invited Rousseau to England is beyond me. Hume was, in my opinion, the Philosopher of Industrial England. On the other hand, Rousseau was calling for a return to nature--though he mellowed as the years passed.

'NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!'

This was a speech of Thomas Gradgrind, the main character of C. Dickens's Hard Times; but it might as well been, Hume's speech. Like Thomas Gradgrind, Hume saw no benefit in things not planted on facts. He even advocated that such books "be condemned to flame."

Rousseau was repulsed by this idea. He knew that talking dogs and other myth have their uses. In his Emile, he saw that these stories were important in developing a child's imagination.

From a modern perspective, we can say Rousseau was against the dehumanization of man; he was against the rigid and clockwork mechanization of Industrial England. While Hume cannot be bothered by this "nonsense", all that there is is Math and Logic.

Their meeting was just a disaster waiting to happen.



*But I don't hear anyone calling him a jerk.

seanie

Hume was Scottish.

From Scotland.

August Spies

seanie is right.

English philosophers are silly. Case in point: bentham.

Adrian Selby

Wasn't John Stuart Mill English? Bertrand Russell? Gilbert Ryle, Antony Flew, A.J.Ayer.

Not sure on all of them, but some of them should be

Trouble is, I'm Welsh, so, the great Welsh philosophers are...er...oh dear

xoc

1. Scotland is part of Great Britain
2. From http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/r/rousseau.htm

Rousseau_CHN

silly but pragmatic. where in the world can you find the leftist party accomadating capitalist into their organization? Britain and China. Ah yes, but the CCP borrowed the idea from the labour party.

again silly, but they, the pragmatic, are the ones who are going to survive.

Rousseau_CHN

Just to add to my last post. It is sad that things like idealism must give way to the harsh fact of realities.

I am still saddened at how Cervantes concluded Don Quixote. I sometimes wish that both Don Quixote and Sancho would ride into the sunset together.

But alas this is the reality. There are two choices we can make when face with reality. We could follow Sancho Panza's path and be materialistic. Or we could follow Don Quixote, a man who could not continue to live when he knows that he could no longer follow his dream.

Billy Joel has a very interesting song about pragmatism and practicality.

Ah, John Lennon. Too bad he died early...but should he survive longer, he probably would be saying the same thing: I once have causes too...