Welcome to Module 2! (1.5 – 2 hours)
Here’s what you need to do by next class:
- If you haven’t done so yet, read the Syllabus and Schedule (main menu). If you have any questions, please let me know!
- Browse through the Anthology and start to think about a text you may be interested in focusing on for your class project (doesn’t have to be featured in our schedule, but can be). Then, click on Assessment (main menu) and read about the three different options (essay, podcast, or video) to see which one you would prefer to do.
- Read from the Anthology:
– “An Age of Revolutions” (13 pages)
– Confessions, Book 1, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1723 (24 pages inc. author intro), also available here (Book I only)
*mild sexual references* - Watch the lecture below.
- Come up with one question about the readings and write it in the comments below: Has anything confused you? Struck you? Awed you? Revolted you? Interested you, in any way? We will use your questions for discussion in class.
NB: you can’t write the same question as anyone else that has already commented before you. - Fill out the exit ticket for this lecture so I can count your participation.
Below is a downloadable transcript of the lecture:
Below are the downloadable slides:
Wanna do more?
- The School of Life on Rousseau and his view on politics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81KfDXTTtXE&ab_channel=TheSchoolofLife
- A podcast by Writ Large on Confessions: https://podtail.com/da/podcast/writ-large/confessions/
Feel free to write a second comment or reply to any of your classmates’ comments if you feel like saying anything else about the module content 🙂
I read a little bit of Confession in high school but didn’t finish that. I think he was a hypocritical person. He promoted humanitarianism but left his children in an orphanage. He found the theory and expounded it, meanwhile going against it in the action. Made a sincere confession after all. I think I will finish this book to see how this pioneer dissected his experience and inward nature.
I think that’s a fair reaction to have to Rousseau, Laura! Thanks for expressing that.
Is the purpose of Confessions for defending Rousseau’s reputation? Did he write this book to justify leaving his children in an orphanage? Why would Rousseau neglect his children if his father did that to him?
Excellent questions, Tanya, thank you! Just a thought on the last one: it’s fairly common to repeat, unwillingly, what was done to you in childhood. Psychologists argue that we do this because that’s all we know, deep down. But of course, it’s not inevitable. Awareness is an antidote. But what’s interesting with Rousseau, is that one would assume he was aware, if he was writing a book about it.
Anyway, I must remind everyone: the author’s life provides only a very limited source of analysis for a text. What’s important is the effect that the book would have had on the audience, both at its time of publication and in your time. What can we make of the text, independently of its author?
What was the reason for Rousseau to write the book “The Confessions”, and why did he make himself a character in the book, what did he want to show to the readers? Why did Jean-Jacques become someone he didn’t like (in the book)?
Excellent questions, Ying! Look forward to discussing that in class.
Why was it so important for Rousseau to extensively discuss the events that occurred in his childhood? Is it his way of justifying the person he became as an adult? Or does he want readers to understand why he saw the world, from the lenses of his upbringing?
I think you’re onto something with the idea ofjustifing one’s childhood as an adult, Maimouna. That tells us a lot of the genre of autobiography!
Roussea believed that society was Man’s downfall, why is ‘being alone’ or alienation more justifiable than Man working together to evolve in the world?
Excellent! This is the essence of the probelm, Crystal! Thank you for phrasing it!
Rousseau focuses on the theme: society vs. nature. But, what exactly is he arguing? What would be a potential solution? Although he feels society disrupts human potential, what would humans be without structure and society… Does he feel any structure is necessary for mankind?
Great question, Kadija! This is one of the questions I hoped the class would come up with, as it goes to show that we need to trascend binaries at some points.
There has to be another option, something of a compromise, instead of just one thing vs. the other thing. To be fair, in the case of Rousseau, I think he argues a bit of nothing and everything. He is more of a Romantic in my opinion, and Romantics tend to ramble. They are somewhat stuck in a cycle of longing for the unattainable… more on that in Module 3!
Why did Rousseau feel the need to be one of the first people to write an autobiography when mostly only religious figures were doing it at the time? Was he trying to send a message to those writing autobiographies that they must reveal everything about an individual including their own flaws?
Getting to read more about Rousseau was what caught my eye this week as the Confessions section was the most detailed piece about the life of Rousseau that I have read. It was quite unfortunate to learn about more of some extremely poor decisions that he made but I acknowledge the courage it took to come forward with that.
I read that people (especially those that opposed him from the beginning) didn’t have as much of a great reaction to Confessions, but is it like today where they are more angered by the fact that they can see themselves in him, someone who they are “supposed” to dislike?
Why did Rousseau think recounting events in his life would in the Confessions, would help others know themselves and show what it’s like “living on the inside”?
Good point, Shayla! I think there is also a desire to show the audience of his time that it is okay, and even beneficial, to tell one’s story and wallow in navel-gazing for a little bit. Definitely, at a time where wociety is focused on grand, theoretical ideas (he says this in Book I), he draws attention back to the individual. There’s a quest of authenticity in that.
Rousseau’s protestantism seems to be at odds with his rejection of personal growth and community. These two values are such a central part to organized religion, so does he still reject it in this context? Can he truly claim to be a protestant if he has these contradictory values?
I found his idea of society ruining an individual interesting yet I questioned it. Would he have changed his mind, had he encountered the experiences we face in present day society ( pandemic, quarantine, long periods of isolation, etc.) ?
I find it interesting that there is an idea that Rousseau was self-centered which is why he felt the need to write an autobiography about himself. However, Rousseau included many embarrassing moments and flaws about himself in this autobiography, so how could it be the case that he wrote this out of self-centeredness?
I found Rousseau’s idea about individualism very interesting because he wrote this to tell the audience how a society should work even though he was so against society. What does he think of a society like today?
What mistake does Rousseau confess in this book?
Extremely enging points and questions about this module, everyone! Keep all these thoughts in mind as we analyze an excerpt of the text today.
Also, feel free to reply to each other if you have thoughts about your classmates’ questions!
Do you think Rousseau is arrogant or humble? His arrogance can be seen when he said, “I have entered upon a performance which is without example, whose accomplishment will have no imitator. I mean to present my fellow-mortals with a man in all the integrity of nature; and this man shall be myself.” He showed his humility when he openly admitted his faults in stating: “I was a chatterbox, a gourmand, a liar sometimes.”
Rousseau knows the wrongs he’s done but seems to have a reason for it. He believes society can ruin an individual and thinks his harsh childhood justifies his wrongs. He thought because he had a bad father that he was going to be one as well. Although he admits to doing wrong, I’m not sure if he truly regrets his actions and thin he’s just using his harsh background to justify his wrongdoing. Do you believe he truly regrets his actions or is is he just using his childhood to explain why he did wrong later on?