ABSTRACT
Thus far we have tried to determine how Rousseau criticized the philosophes. Now it is time to ask how the philosophes criticized Rousseau. Up to this point it has been my objective to show that two benefits accrue when Rousseau is wrested from the romantics and restored to the Enlightenment: the first is the recovery of his intended meaning, the second the recovery of the autocritique of Enlightenment. In one sense the present chapter will work at cross-purposes with all my preceding efforts, for it is doubtful that anything can be learned about Rousseau’s thought from reading the attacks unleashed by the philosophes. Rather than criticize his works they excoriated the man and invited the public to sit with them as they passed judgment, not on the writings of Rousseau, but on the person of Jean-Jacques. On trial, Rousseau did not have to be insane to compose a work entitled Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques during his final years; better to place himself before the public as the accused than to be denied a chance to conduct his defense.
