One aspect of Rousseau’s thought that may have piqued Adam Smith’s admiration, curiosity, and intellect, even before his travels to Geneva in 1765-66, was the Swiss philosopher’s Lettre à M. d’Alembert sur les spectacles, first published in 1758, the original cover page of which is pictured above. (For reference, see Allan Bloom’s translation of Rousseau’s classic 1758 letter-essay in Politics and the Arts; Letter to M. d’Alembert on the Theater, Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press (1960), available here.) Although this work by the famed “Citizen of Geneva” is addressed directly to the French mathematician and philosophe Jean le Rond d’Alembert (Rousseau was writing in reply to an article published in the famed Encyclopédie in which d’Alembert proposed the establishment of a theater in Geneva), the letter-essay was written for a general audience. In fact, a copy of Rousseau’s celebrated letter-essay on the theater found its way into Adam Smith’s library. [See Hiroshi Mizuta, Adam Smith’s Library: A Supplement to Bonar’s Catalogue with a Checklist of the Whole Library, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1967), p. 53, available here.]

Moreover, one of the Lumières who received an initial copy of Rousseau’s 1758 letter-essay was none other than Dr Théodore Tronchin, the scholar-medical doctor who would later be Smith’s key contact in Geneva. [See Maurice Cranston, The Noble Savage: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1754-1762, University of Chicago Press, 2nd edition (1991), p. 140.] Writing to a friend in Geneva (pastor Jacob Vernes), the Swiss philosopher had singled out Dr Tronchin among the citizens of Geneva and other prominent persons who were to receive presentation copies of Rousseau’s letter-essay. (In addition to Dr Tronchin, Rousseau asked his agent in the Swiss city-state to distribute copies to the great Voltaire, who at the time lived nearby in Les Délices; to two of Geneva’s syndics or chief magistrates, Jean Antoine Saladin and Pierre Mussard; as well as to several professors of the Académie de Genève. See ibid.)

As it happens, Dr Tronchin had not only read Rousseau’s 1758 letter-essay; he also corresponded with the Swiss philosopher directly in November of 1758 to share his thoughts with him. Tronchin, however, was highly critical of Rousseau’s arguments. Maurice Cranston sums up Tronchin’s eloquent critique of Rousseau’s 1758 letter-essay thus:

Dr Theodore Tronchin wrote [to Rousseau] suggesting that the morals of the Genevese were less pure than Rousseau realized, but also to suggest that the cultural activities Rousseau had proposed in his Letter to M. d’Alembert as an alternative to a theatre would only make things worse. In particular the men’s clubs, which once seemed good, had become a source of dissipation and wasted time, and were injurious to family life. He reminded Rousseau that the Genevese were not Greeks; they were a people of artisans, not warriors, and Rousseau’s idea of imitating Sparta and introducing state education, gymnastics, and military training was unsuited to children destined to earn their living in trades and industries. Moreover, if Rousseau’s policy of separating the sexes was adopted, Dr Tronchin pointed out that children would spend all their time with their mothers, and be deprived of the discipline of a father’s hand. ‘Geneva no more resembles Sparta,’ he continued, ‘than the white glove of an opera girl resembles the gauntlet of an athlete.’

[Cranston 1991, pp. 145-146. Dr Tronchin’s 3 November 1758 letter to Rousseau is reprinted in Volume 5 of R. A. Leigh, editor, Correspondance complète de J.-J. Rousseau, p. 734. See Cranston 1991, p. 375 n.67, citing “3.11.1758. MS R303, ff.62-3 (CC, V, 734)”.]

For his part, Rousseau wasted no time in writing up a point-by-point reply to Dr Tronchin on 26 November 1758. According to Maurice Cranston, Rousseau tried to find common ground with Tronchin: “He [Rousseau] noted with pleasure that Tronchin shared his views on the drama and expressed the hope that ‘your authority and your wisdom will prevent both the introduction of a theatre into the city and the continued existence of one at its gates’, the latter being … a reference to the theatre at Carouge, which Tronchin and others were trying to have closed”. [Cranston 1991, p. 147; Rousseau’s 26 November 1758 reply letter to Tronchin is reprinted in Volume 5 of R. A. Leigh, editor, Correspondance complète de J.-J. Rousseau, p. 743. See Cranston 1991, p. 375 n.70, citing “26.11.1758. BPUG, Archives Tronchin 165, ff.9-10 (CC, V, 743)”.]

Before proceeding, however, two important points are now worth noting. One is that the Geneva theater controversy — specifically, what effect does the theater, and popular entertainment more generally, have on morals? — was a question that Adam Smith no doubt must have cared about. Why? Because Smith himself had once served on a university committee to thwart the construction of a new theater in Glasgow. [On this peculiar chapter of Smith’s life — peculiar, given Smith’s love of theater during his grand tour years in Paris — see generally Ryan Patrick Hanley, “From Geneva to Glasgow: Rousseau and Adam Smith on the theater and commercial society”, Vol. 35 (2006), pp. 177-202, available here.] The second point is that the Tronchin-Rousseau correspondence would resume — and then come to an abrupt end — in April of 1759. (To be continued …)