Rousseau:

Rousseau:
>Debates the nature of government, going back to a theoretical pre-civilized stage to seek a philosophical justification
>Proposes the radical idea that all men are inherrently equal and aristocracies of birth are an injustice against human nature
>Extensively writes about various kinds of freedom and what differentiates for example natural freedom from freedom granted by government
>Thinks up the fundamental principle for a democratic society: the difference between volonté générale and volonté de tous
>Criticizes religion in a respectful way, concluding that true followers of Christ would not make good republicans (something that created a friendly rivalry with Roustan)
>When brought at odds with the Archbishop of Paris, he claims that a free discussion of religion is more religious than conversion by force
>Also writes extensively about children, creating the field of pedagogy
>Also finds the time to write plays and novels, his masterwork Emilie being so good Kant read it multiple times and could not put it down
>All of this done by a man who's self-educated!
>Universally derided and remembered as both a proto-Communist and a proto-Fascist simply for believing in the neccessity of a national identity and patriotism for egalitarian republicanism

>Voltaire
>Can't shut the fuck up in theaters
>Wanks off over England and Prussia even though they're both more of the same
>Praises the aristocracy
>Thinks shitting on Shakespeare somehow makes him a good playwright (spoilers: it doesn't)
>Argued in favor of the status quo (aristocratic monarchies)
>Whined about free speech, but was willing to let Rousseau's books be burned because he disagreed with them
>Mostly remembered for his "witty" sayings rather than his ideas, which weren't all that original to begin with
>The Enlightenment is called "the age of Voltaire"

How? Why? Rousseau was a thinker whereas Voltaire was just a superstar. It's like calling the 21st century the Age of Kardashian.

Because chads ruin everything and Rosseau was a respectful robot.

Loudest voice is always gonna be heard over the most sensible. That's why this fucker is going to be POTUS and I'm going to get dubs.

It's just how it works, mate.

cause Voltaire is based

Voltaire was a better writer.

You severely underestimate the power of aesthetics.

>Because chads ruin everything and Rosseau was a respectful robot.
That's actually not inaccurate

Voltaire is literally the Pepe to Rousseau the Wojak.

He even has meme magic.

Rousseau plz

>make up a bunch of shit about "equality" without any evidence
>remembered as geniuses
Fuck the "enlightenment" "philosophers"

>without evidence
>"enlightenment"

Can't tell if Evola worshiper or fedora lord.

Is there a difference?

Hardly.

voltaire was a much better writer, had way better bants, and cleared the way for things to come by >-ing away the past. he belonged firmly to that period and relished it.

JJ was more of a visionary and didnt really belong to his time. the revolution and romanticism after it were his true legacies.

>make up a bunch of shit about "equality" without any evidence
You don't understand that the natural state is an entirely theoretical state prior to civilization, right? And in case you need "evidence" (which shouldn't even be neccessary as, once again, the natural state has always been theoretical), Rousseau based his vision of it mostly on the behavior of the native inhabitants of the New World as well as the behavior of animals. There was a certain degree of equality among them (native American and Germanic tribes often had chieftains, but that was often a limited and ceremonial role. Even accounts like those of Caesar tell us that Germanic tribes often took major decisions by consensus) and while not exactly "good", primitive man and beast alike have/had an inherrent distate of seeing one of their own suffer.

>Inb4 muh bon sauvage
We never see that term come up in any of Rousseau's writings. We attribute this phrase to Rousseau.... because of Voltaire. Who else? The man claimed Rousseau wanted humanity to go back to walking around on all fours.

tl;dr:
>The natural state of man is entirely theoretical
>In as far as there was any "evidence" for his interpretation, it was based on observation of the primitives and animals

Rosseau was a chad, beat his son.

rousseau
>basically a godfag
>writes godshit

voltaire
>basically an atheist
>professionally btfo godfags

why is the age of btfo godfags called the age of voltaire?

Both of them were deist though.

wasn't Voltaire a pantheist?

Voltaire, better writer than Rousseau?

Voltaire had wit; Rousseau, genius.

Rousseau's conception of the human nature was that of a salon society on a desert island; he's one of the shallowest thinkers there is. On the other hand, Voltaire is not better, and Rousseau was a honest man.

Rousseau's main mistake was to believe that the État de nature was anything more than a theoretical construct, and to constitute a teleology around it. His comments on "property" are so blatantly false and, even for the time, ignorant of basic historical facts, that it really is a great fortuity, that such ravings are still remembered, and furthermore, discussed.

What's wrong with his definition of property then?