Just thinking aloud here.... 
Jean Jacques Rousseau became famous as an advocate of a philosophy that sounded to his contemporaries like a primitivism. (There is a good deal of dispute among scholars as to whether primitivism in the usual sense is what Rousseau actually meant, but rightly or wrongly, it is the appearance of primitivism that made him an Enlightenment star.)
His first successful philosophical work was his "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences." He wrote it in response to an essay contest inspired by the Academy of Dijon, which had asked the contestants, "Has the restoration of the sciences and arts contributed to the purification of morals?" The wording of the question indicated that the Academy thought there were two possible answers -- (1), no, human moral character stays constant through time whatever happens in the arts and sciences, or (2) yes, there has been a lot of wonderful progress since the Renaissance and that includes moral progress.
That was one of the great debates of the time and the Academy was thinking within a well-established box.
But Rousseau rather tore through the cardboard, opting for position (3) -- the progress of the sciences and arts has been bad for morals. IIRC he focused more on the arts than the sciences in making this point.
In a later work, "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theatre," Rousseau narrows his focus to intensify the critique. He says Geneva should by no means allow a theatre within its city limits. A theatre has disastrous moral effects.
"People think they come together in the theatre, and it is there that they are isolated. It is there that they go to forget their friends, neighbors, and relations in order to concern themselves with fables, in order to cry for the misfortunes of the dead, or to laugh at the expense of the living."
This enhanced his reputation as a primitive.
I'm not really headed anywhere here, folks, just wandering about in the primeval forest, talking to myself, an activity nowadays known as blogging.
Jean Jacques Rousseau became famous as an advocate of a philosophy that sounded to his contemporaries like a primitivism. (There is a good deal of dispute among scholars as to whether primitivism in the usual sense is what Rousseau actually meant, but rightly or wrongly, it is the appearance of primitivism that made him an Enlightenment star.)
His first successful philosophical work was his "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences." He wrote it in response to an essay contest inspired by the Academy of Dijon, which had asked the contestants, "Has the restoration of the sciences and arts contributed to the purification of morals?" The wording of the question indicated that the Academy thought there were two possible answers -- (1), no, human moral character stays constant through time whatever happens in the arts and sciences, or (2) yes, there has been a lot of wonderful progress since the Renaissance and that includes moral progress.
That was one of the great debates of the time and the Academy was thinking within a well-established box.
But Rousseau rather tore through the cardboard, opting for position (3) -- the progress of the sciences and arts has been bad for morals. IIRC he focused more on the arts than the sciences in making this point.
In a later work, "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theatre," Rousseau narrows his focus to intensify the critique. He says Geneva should by no means allow a theatre within its city limits. A theatre has disastrous moral effects.
"People think they come together in the theatre, and it is there that they are isolated. It is there that they go to forget their friends, neighbors, and relations in order to concern themselves with fables, in order to cry for the misfortunes of the dead, or to laugh at the expense of the living."
This enhanced his reputation as a primitive.
I'm not really headed anywhere here, folks, just wandering about in the primeval forest, talking to myself, an activity nowadays known as blogging.
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