Here’s a series of interviews done by a young intellectual with one of the eminent interpreters of Rousseau in America, indeed the world, Christopher Kelly.
Kelly does a good job of showing why Rousseau is important to people on the right, not the left. He looks at Rousseau not as an ideologist encouraging revolution—nor as an advertiser of “noble savage” idealism or irresponsibility—but as the first major thinker to sound the alarm about the dangers of modern thought. To list a few: (1) Our societies tend to encourage competitive vanity, while undermining moderation; (2) they undermine courage & mock heroism, robbing people of the shared stories, teachings, emotions that make for community; (3) in promoting fashions, modern societies undermine love.
Those three problems all tend to show the dangers of a shallow modern rationalism, very arrogant about what a small elite really can know or do, very ignorant of the way of life they’re undermining. But Rousseau goes further & points out that much of the real rationalism, which is not merely pretense or affectation, but actually involves the attempt to understand, indeed to master nature—that, too, is really dangerous to a civilized way of life. Technology doesn’t make for wisdom most of the time, but it is often enough dangerous. So also with “political technology”—liberal teachings that can be “installed”—it’s often dangerous, seldom wise.
Part of the unwisdom of modern rationalism is the delusion of control of social phenomena. Since “modernization” means opposition to tradition, the traditionalists are the only opponent—that’s the thought which opens up the path to revolutionaries precisely in those cases where “modernization” proves victorious. Conservatives are themselves weak in this regard—they blame Rousseau for the things about which he warned, i.e. they shoot the messenger. It’s perhaps possible now to look again at Rousseau without trying to scapegoat him. Not in order to crown him—but he was a great thinker, a great writer, so he is an important part of our education.
If I could have, I would have pushed a "love it!" button (instead of the like). "Save Rousseau from the ConservativeINC interpretation!" needs to be a new rallying cry. (I could name the architects of that skewed, one-sided, eventually misguided interpretation, but let the dead rest from their labors.) Merci, Titus.
"Technology doesn’t make for wisdom most of the time" Mmm, but since Rousseau's time it's made for some nice things, like cutting child mortality in half.