Rousseau and the Phlosophes: Immanent Critique

Rousseau the Critic
Despite his radical critique of Enlightenment, Jean Jacques Rousseau belongs to it. He remained loyal to the Enlightenment in two important ways, despite this disagreement over certain "fundamental" beliefs. The first was in his commitment to the authority of reason and its ability to help the thinker reach his conclusions independently. He shared the commitment to a program of research that was common to the entire philosophical movement. Second, Rousseau was also looking to help man reach the state of enlightenment: to eradicate prejudice, fanaticism and superstition,…