Jean-Jacques Rousseau dans la Révolution

J.-J. Rousseau during the revolution. Like the philosophy of the Enlightenment in general, Rousseauism splintered during the Revolution. The democratic aspects of the Social Contract , which had been used to support parliamentary doctrine, now turned against it ; a ' patriotic ' interpretation developed against the social order and absolute monarchy. But soon ' aristocratic ' influence led to an emphasis on other aspects or reinterpreted aspects initially favourable to the Revolution. These developments were helped by the abstract nature of the bourgeois universalism found in the Social Contract and by the political compromises of the beginning of the Revolution. As long as one does not claim the existence of an abstract truth of Rousseauism distinct from the use made of it, we can accept Lakanal's paradox ' the Revolution taught us to undestand the Social Contract ' for the division of Rousseauism into contradictory doctrines corresponds to contradictions within Rousseau's thought.Barny Roger. Jean-Jacques Rousseau dans la Révolution. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°6, 1974. Lumières et Révolution. pp. 59-98