Abstract

MARTINS, Custódia. Mask and education in Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Diacrítica [online]. 2012, vol.26, n.2, pp.354-369. ISSN 0807-8967.

According to Rousseau, anyone living in society, the political man, always carries a mask of artificiality that covers and overrides his or her true nature. The task of education is to salvage from the oblivion of memory the essential principles of human existence, which society, by its many contingencies, compels one to forget. Through his auto-biographical writings, Rousseau labors to present himself as the prototype of a man who was able to preserve his true nature. Because of this, Rousseau was often scorned and reproached by his contemporaries. Nevertheless, he ardently strove to present himself before them and posterity exactly as he perceived himself to be, without any measure of cunning or artifice, omitting and forgetting nothing.

Keywords : Auto-Biography; Men; Mask; Education; Artificiality; Nature.

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