Conscience and Feeling in Rousseau’s 'Émile'

Abstract

This article examines the idea of conscience in J.-J. Rousseau’s Émile from a perspective that combines History of Philosophy and Lexical History. The analysis is contextualized in relation to other writings of the author, especially the Discours sur l’origine de l’inégalité, and within the historical framework of sciences in 17th and 18th centuries, with attention to John Locke’s empiricist theory. It intends to investigate the semantic constitution process of “conscience” and “sentiment intérieur” in French language considering certain debates involving Innatism and Mechanism, with emphasis to the contribution of the Cartesian physician Louis de la Forge. The aim of this work is to show the ways in which the idea of conscience in Émile, combined with an interpretation of the inner sentiment associated with Cartesian physiology, establishes significant pillars for the mental and institutional structures that made possible the emergence of what came to be called Modern Subjectivity.