【Solitary Reading, or High-Minded Reading】 Rousseau's "The Social Contract," "Reveries of the Solitary Walker," and His Many Eccentricities and Strange Life

The Prison of Ideals—The Life and Thought of Rousseau

Today, we do not first hear the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) at a precocious age.
For many, it is merely a name that passes by in high school ethics textbooks alongside the abstract concept of the “general will.” Or, in middle school moral education, the phrase “Man is born free” appears only as a lesson wrapped in some kind of goodwill.
But how many can truly sense that behind those words lay a human being pregnant with indescribable passion, loneliness, and ruin?
Generally, those who study Rousseau pick up
“The Social Contract.” In bookstores, one might find paperback editions of
“Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men” or abridged versions of “Emile,” or perhaps “Reveries of the Solitary Walker,” translated into accessible language. However, to read them superficially and speak of him as a thinker who praised “freedom” and “nature” is far too one-sided. Rousseau fought for “freedom,” but he destroyed himself with that very freedom.
He spoke of the “ideals of education,” but refused to apply those ideals to his own children.
He believed in the “goodness of man,” but at the same time despaired at the “corruption of society,” eventually fleeing to the woods to become a hermit who listened only to the sound of the wind.
His life was nothing less than a record of the

spectacular friction between the self and the world, trapped within the prison of ideals. If there is any meaning in our reading Rousseau again today, it is to stare intently at the
universal human contradiction—the gap between the desire to “be this way” and the reality that “one can only live this way” that still resonates in the modern age. Rousseau, who held up ideals while being tossed about by desire and delusion. That sorrowful portrait is as cold and beautiful as an unbreakable mask lurking within ourselves.

[“The Social Contract”—The Light of Reason, the Flame of Revolution]

There is likely no one who doubts that Rousseau’s “The Social Contract” became the cornerstone of modern democracy.

rang out like a whistle announcing the gale of the era.
At the core of his thought is the sacred concept of the “general will.”
This is not merely a calculation of majority rule.
It was a higher spirit that purified the selfish wills of the people and elevated them to the happiness of the entire populace; that was the general will.
He detested representative systems and preached that the governance of the state should be carried out by the citizens themselves.
But perhaps that dream was merely a phantom that could only apply to city-states like Geneva.
The republic he idealized was never realized in this world, remaining only a construct built upon the blood of revolution.

[“Reveries of the Solitary Walker”—Flowers of Thought Blooming in the Wilderness]

In his later years, Rousseau submerged himself in the bosom of nature as if to calm the violent storm within.
“Reveries of the Solitary Walker” is a record of that high-minded spirit.
He was no longer a philosopher inflamed by the heat of social reform, but a hermit and poet who cursed the world and blessed solitude..
He would sit on the grass, his cheeks flushed by the scent of flowers, listening only to the sound of the wind.
For him, “walking” was a ritual to escape the stench of civilization and descend into the abyss called the self..
There, nature was the only educator, and the conviction that human nature is simple and sublime remained as the only truth.

[Romantic History—The Inexplicable Chapters of Love]

Rousseau’s romantic history plays a melody strikingly discordant with his philosophy.
This man, who preached the virtues of pure nature, drowned himself in passion and obsession in the name of love in his private life..
The first symbol of this was Madame de Warens, who was his “second mother” and a long-time object of his affection.
—She was his protector, his lover, and his teacher.
Though socially labeled a scandal with an older noblewoman, Rousseau formed his ego while nestling against her breasts.
This perverse relationship, where sexual love and education were intertwined, is the origin of the man named Rousseau.
Even after that, he often drowned in love and fantasy.
Trysts with prostitutes, passion for young girls, affection for a household maid—none of these lacked order and moderation, and Rousseau’s love always stripped away the mask of reason, becoming a torrent of sensuality and chaos.
Ultimately, the companion he chose was an uneducated laundress, Thérèse Levasseur. She could barely read or write and understood nothing of Rousseau’s works.
—Yet he found healing in her innocence and sought simple peace in his life with her.
Nevertheless, it is hard to say that Rousseau was sincere even to this woman, as he coldly abandoned the five children he had with her to an orphanage.

In both love and fatherhood, he remained silent in the valley between ideals and reality.

[Rousseau’s Life—Between Ideals and Madness]

■ The contradiction of preaching education while abandoning his own children
In “Emile,” he spoke passionately about the cause of education.
Despite this, in real life, rather than raising his own children, he threw them into the prison of death known as an orphanage.
His educational theory was too high-minded, too abstract, and was never applied in reality.
■ Persecution mania and the break with the Enlightenment thinkers
Rousseau was once a member of the constellation of the Enlightenment.
But as time passed, distrust and suspicion nested in his heart, and eventually he came to view Voltaire (1694–1778) and Diderot (1713–1784) as “conspirators.”
—The conviction that the world was his enemy was the truth of his later years.
■ The contradiction of cursing the aristocracy while enjoying their patronage
In his writing, Rousseau denied the aristocracy and sang of the liberation of the people.
But in the reality of his life, he received luxurious protection at the estate of Madame de Montmorency.
The hand that held the pen of revolution often accepted the bread offered by the nobility.
■ Wandering, eccentricity, and a lonely death
His life was a continuous series of escapes and wanderings.
He fled society, hid in the forests, and was even witnessed walking on all fours.
In his final years, he was completely isolated, waiting for death while listening to the wind on the grass.

[Radiance Amidst Ruin]

Rousseau was a giant of thought, yet at the same time, a man filled with contradictions and madness.
Hespoke of ideals while continuing to betray them.
His ideas changed the world, but they could not save him.
Even so, we cannot forget Rousseau.
This is because his pen touched upon the truth of humanity.
The revolution eventually corrupted, and the republic became an empire.
Yet, the reveries of Rousseau, which bloomed in solitude while treading upon the dew of the grass, continue to quietly stir the hearts of philosophers even now.
——Man creates society in search of freedom. However, freedom often exists only outside of society.
Rousseau lived, and died, within that paradox.