Voltaire and Rousseau disagreed with each other on many issues. Nonetheless, they do have at least one thing in common, which is that they were both prominent figures of the French Enlightenment (and of the Enlightenment more generally). Thus, they are covered together in this audiobook despite their disagreements. It is a single unified audiobook covering both philosophers, rather than two separate audiobooks being sold together. Since Voltaire was born more than 17 years before Rousseau, they focus first on Voltaire’s life, and then focus on Rousseau’s life, making little effort to connect their lives.
Although born at different times, Voltaire and Rousseau both died in 1778, within a couple of months of each other. This may be part of why they are often perceived to be connected with each other. But as this audiobook makes clear, their disagreements were extensive, and ironic in two men who are both revered in France as “Founding Fathers” of France. The French Revolution owes far more of its ideas to Rousseau, as I describe in my blog post about his famous work “The Social Contract.” Voltaire had virtually no influence on the French Revolution, on either the good or the bad of it. This audiobook’s assessment of Voltaire is somewhat mixed, since they seem to agree with some aspects of his philosophy, and disagree with others. But their assessment of Rousseau is much more positive, which I confess I find difficult to understand.
Statue of Rousseau on the Île Rousseau, Geneva
For example, they paint Rousseau as a sympathetic supporter of liberty and democracy. They give the famous line from “The Social Contract” about how “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” They then argue that this may be “the first known attack on slavery” (or words to that effect) – ironic for a line first released in 1762. They are wrong to suggest that this was even an attack on slavery at all, since the rest of the paragraph indicates that he wanted to make these chains “legitimate.” (Source: Book 1, Chapter 1 of “The Social Contract”) But they are even more wrong to suggest that this was the “first” known attack on slavery, since there were attacks on slavery known long before Rousseau, dating back to Spartacus’s slave revolt against the Roman Empire (if not earlier).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
They also give other quotes from Rousseau that, when taken out of context, seem to support a pro-freedom interpretation of Rousseau. But one must quote his works very selectively, to make this kind of a case. Their quotations are so selective, in fact, that they mar the quality of the presentation. Their interpretation is not only flat wrong, but as far removed from being right as it’s possible to be. Nonetheless, it was interesting to hear their take on Rousseau, and hear Rousseauian philosophy from a defender of the man and his work. But I should caution readers about believing their take, and refer interested readers to another audiobook for an alternative take. The latter audiobook is made by the same company (Knowledge Products), but it is focused more exclusively on Rousseau’s work “The Social Contract,” rather than on Rousseau’s philosophy as a whole. (More about this latter audiobook here.)
François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire
The chief advantage with this audiobook is its presentation of Voltaire’s ideas. I should clarify that I don’t always agree with their take on Voltaire, either. Nonetheless, the other audiobook that I have mentioned does not attempt to cover Voltaire, while this audiobook does. Again, this is its chief advantage. One should take their presentation of Rousseau with something of a grain of salt. Their audiobook focused on “The Social Contract” is a much better presentation of Rousseau’s political philosophy, and the extent of its consistency with either the external evidence or its own passages. (More about the problems with that book here.)
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Part of the audiobook series
The World of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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