Where to start with this handsome chap?

>>9531393
Letter to d'Alembert on Spectacles. It's a microcosm of his worldview.

File: Allan_Ramsay_003[1].jpg (342KB, 1576x1882px) Image search: [Google]

342KB, 1576x1882px

post the best portrait for a start.

then read the wiki page i guess

I read the Reveries first, and like them best. Theyre short.

Don't

>>9531393
I would star with Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, then the Social Contract, then Emile.

>>9531565
this

Are the Confessions/Julie la nouvelle Heloise worth reading, or should I just stick to his political/philosophical writings?

>>9531630
That's actually a tough question. I felt I really got at Rousseau after reading that and the Confessions, but theyre annoying. The Confessions moreso than the novel. One does gain a sense as to just how alien those times are to our own, however-- and though annoying, both texts are weirdly readable. I read him through as a kid on the strength of Paul de Man's love. The silly times continue..

>>9531668
Schopenhauer loved Julie. Tolstoy loved Rousseau and read all of his work and ranked Confessions, Emile and Julie as his best.

> I read him through as a kid on the strength of Paul de Man's love.

wtf does that mean?

And have you read his Dialogues?

Depends whether you want to start with his political writings or personal ones. Definitely start with Discourse for political, and for the other Reveries if you want a short one and Confessions for the long. But really that's already been said in this thread, what you really should start with is his opera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld7XDELDnto

>>9531393
His First Discourse on the Arts and Sciences is what initially made him famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint). I would start there. From there, it depends on your interests. If you're more into the literary Rousseau, then you should read Letter to D'Alembert and his Confessions. If you're more interested in his political philosophy, then read the Second Discourse on Inequality and the Social Contract.

Also, remember that Rousseau contradicts himself a lot. He was a complex individual. He was a highly emotional person who loved to sit around and do nothing but masturbate yet he also idolized the austerity of Sparta's military aristocracy.

>>9531699
Oh, brother.
Have you read the Confessions? Theyre positively obnoxious to anyone with a modern sensibility, whereas most of Tolstoy is not. Though I enjoy Schopenhauer as well, how he personally felt about 'Julie' or whatever is positively immaterial relative to my own experience of having read it in the 21rst c. Sorry, but that's just a fact. Had (you) read it yourself, youd probably agree. That said, I made no attempt to dissuade another from reading it, only that it was hard for me to recommend.
>wtf does
I had a phase of admiration for de Man and Blanchot when I was younger, read much of their work, etc. de Man's admiration for Rousseau is kind of like Sloterdijk's for Foucault- often stated, but hard to pin down. Nonetheless I wanted to read the philosophe so admired- so I read all the discourses, most of the compiled letters, the novel, the confessions, emile, reveries, and contract. All this 'by the way'. Rousseau is not now nor has he ever been /my guy/. It just so happens that I've read him. Have ((you))??

File: image.jpg (401KB, 876x899px) Image search: [Google]

401KB, 876x899px

>>9531393
>handsome chap

tfw he will never "force you to be free"

>>9532214
>He was a highly emotional person who loved to sit around and do nothing but masturbate

source? I think he advocated no fap in Emile.

>>9532318
> Rousseau is obnoxious but not Paul de Man

interesting...

>>9533438
Bogus. The Confessions are maudlin, Blindness and Insight one of the sharpest collections of literary essays in the second half of the 20thc, and by a lover of Jean-Jacques-- rather.

>>9534347
de Man was the hack's hack (revered by lesser hacks)

muh allegories

The Discourses

>>9535712
Oh, what the fuck ever, moron. It was a youthful infatuation, and I'll submit no apology. Doesn't negate the fact that The Confessions are a grandiose bore.

>>9535802
His Dialogues are his true masterpiece.

>>9535901
My favorite was Reveries. I'll check them out.