Rousseau's Critique of Modern Civilization

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's critique of modern civilization is contained in two essays, "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" and "Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality Among Men".

The common argument we see, which is materialist in nature, in both of his essays is that the fundamental human nature of individuals can be altered by the kind of society they live in. As Marx would later write, "It is the social being of man that affects their consciousness and not the opposite".

Rousseau can be, as we shall see, seen as a precursor to Marx. He can also be seen as a precursor to the entire field of critical theory if we rely on the definition that "critical theory is *any* approach to social philosophy that focuses on the critique of society and culture".

An Analysis of "The Man Who Sleeps"

 “To want nothing. Just to wait, until there is nothing left to wait for. Just to wander, and to sleep. To let yourself be carried along by the crowds, and the streets. To waste your time. To have no projects, to feel no impatience. To be without desire, or resentment, or revolt.”

― Georges Perec

Thomas Kuhn: On the Philosophy of History of Science

In the late nineteenth century, a divide started to emerge in western philosophy: first, the British and American “analytic philosophy”, which was composed dominantly of the logical positivists, who believed that science and all human knowledge could be reduced down to a formal logical system and method; and second, the European “continental philosophy”, which consisted of various schools of thought like Western Marxism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism, etc. The continental philosophers were generally critical of not only the logical positivists and analytic philosophy but also science in general (whereas the analytic philosophers were highly appreciative of science and its role in society).