Comments on: Rousseau on Natural Religion http://percaritatem.com/2008/06/08/rousseau-on-natural-religion/ Non intratur in veritatem nisi per caritatem. St. Augustine Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:32:55 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Cynthia R. Nielsen http://percaritatem.com/2008/06/08/rousseau-on-natural-religion/comment-page-1/#comment-2682 Cynthia R. Nielsen Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:09:29 +0000 http://percaritatem.com/?p=563#comment-2682 Hi Patrick, This was my first reading of JJR, as I had a graduate course on Rousseau and Hobbes this past semester. In light of that, I am open to other readings. Best wishes, Cynthia Hi Patrick,

This was my first reading of JJR, as I had a graduate course on Rousseau and Hobbes this past semester. In light of that, I am open to other readings.

Best wishes,
Cynthia

]]> By: Patrick C. http://percaritatem.com/2008/06/08/rousseau-on-natural-religion/comment-page-1/#comment-2679 Patrick C. Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:00:48 +0000 http://percaritatem.com/?p=563#comment-2679 Dear Cynthia, The issue of Rosseau's religious beliefs is a vexed one, as I can attest, having worked on Rousseau for many years. How much is genuine and how much is tactical, how seriously he took the Vicar's own arguments, to what extent faith was merely a consoling fiction--a fiction because generated by the need for consolation--all this remains unsettled. The Profession of Faith moves from sensation to sentiment to judgment to will in ways that make it unclear whether these are separate faculties, or different manifestations of the same basic energy. However, it does seem to me that the remark about motion and intelligence is not meant to deny freedom but is a version of the argument from design. Rousseau wants to emphasize both the impersonal order of the universe in opposition to the (invidious) personal intentions of human beings, and yet hold to a God free and personal enough to recognize him (or the Vicar) as a suffering and persecuted individual. Whether the result is philosophically coherent is another story.... Dear Cynthia,
The issue of Rosseau’s religious beliefs is a vexed one, as I can attest, having worked on Rousseau for many years. How much is genuine and how much is tactical, how seriously he took the Vicar’s own arguments, to what extent faith was merely a consoling fiction–a fiction because generated by the need for consolation–all this remains unsettled. The Profession of Faith moves from sensation to sentiment to judgment to will in ways that make it unclear whether these are separate faculties, or different manifestations of the same basic energy. However, it does seem to me that the remark about motion and intelligence is not meant to deny freedom but is a version of the argument from design. Rousseau wants to emphasize both the impersonal order of the universe in opposition to the (invidious) personal intentions of human beings, and yet hold to a God free and personal enough to recognize him (or the Vicar) as a suffering and persecuted individual. Whether the result is philosophically coherent is another story….

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