Jean-Jacques Rousseau vu par un visiteur anglais en août 1776

Peter France : Jean-Jacques Rousseau seen by an English visitor, august 1776. In August 1776 Thomas Bentley, the associate of Josiah Wedgwood, visited Paris and went to see Rousseau, taking him books and letters from English admirers. His recently discovered diary includes an account of their conversation, which is here presented in translation. First the two men discuss the books brought by Bentley ; these concern the American question and English attempts to set up a philosophical liturgy inspired by Benjamin Franklin. The conversation then moves to the difference between goodness and virtue, the superiority of animals to men and questions concerning education, clothing, natural science, geology, the origins of the earth and atheism. Bentley's account closes with an enthusiastic sketch of Rousseau's character.France Peter. Jean-Jacques Rousseau vu par un visiteur anglais en août 1776. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°5, 1973. Problèmes actuels de la recherche, sous la direction de Jacques Proust . pp. 271-277