Tag Archives: rousseau

Rousseau’s theory of original sin

Posted on November 20, 2025 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

As we saw in a previous post (see here), three passages in Rousseau’s Second Discourse may have resonated with a young Adam Smith. Yesterday, we saw the first of these three fragments; today, we will take a closer look at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adam-smith, original-sin, Property, rousseau, second-discourse | 2 Comments

Rousseau’s just-so story

Posted on November 19, 2025 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Yesterday, I transcribed three separate passages from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Second Discourse, and I then asked: why would someone like Adam Smith have singled-out those three specific selections in his 1756 letter to the Edinburgh Review? For reference, Smith’s translation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adam-smith, division-of-labor, History, just-so-story, Philosophy, rousseau | 2 Comments

Three passages in Rousseau’s Second Discourse that may have resonated with a young Adam Smith

Posted on November 18, 2025 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

I will begin my survey of Jean-Jacques Rousseau below the fold with three not-so-random fragments or extracts from his celebrated Second Discourse:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adam-smith, edinburgh-review, rousseau, second-discourse | 2 Comments

The banality of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Posted on January 24, 2024 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Note: this is the last part (part 7, if you are keeping count!) of my review of Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Rousseau concludes his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (a/k/a “The Second Discourse”) with an appendix … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged enlightenment, political-philosophy, rousseau | 3 Comments

Rousseau through the eyes of Adam Smith redux

Posted on January 23, 2024 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Note: this is part 6 of my review of Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) In my previous post (“Rousseau through the eyes of Adam Smith“), I mentioned how Adam Smith’s 1756 Letter-Essay to the Edinburgh Review singles … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged enlightenment, History, political-philosophy, rousseau | 1 Comment

Three questions for Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Posted on January 18, 2024 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Note: this is part 1 of my review of Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) Rousseau’s Discourse begins with a “Dedication to the Republic of Geneva” signed by none other than “J. J. Rousseau” himself and dated 12 … Continue reading →