Rousseau:

alienation, false identity, and the social role of the conscious leader

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This book was conceived to offer the readers a plausible interpretation of the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau’s most valuable writings: the Second Discourse, Emilie and The Social Contract.

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These works were developed according to a perspective of human reality that gives us the possibility to understand contemporary society, transcending the historical moment in which they were written.

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When Rousseau offers us a view of the phenomenon of alienation, which implies that men live outside of themselves, away from their essence, we are impelled to look at ourselves and evaluate ourselves in our current situation. Are we, the civilized men and women of the 21st century, living according to our nature or not? Are we alienated or aligned with our spiritual being?

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This book offers two essays: the first one refers to the corruption of the human being in civilization as a result of the social construction of a false identity, which is a product of a state of fundamental ignorance, that deprived men of understanding their nature. The second essay considers the exit from the state of corruption through the gestation of the social contract, which can be developed by an individual who knows the true human nature and without whom the Rousseaunian, democratic political society would not have been possible. This individual is the conscious leader, who contributes to develop the intellectual conditions of equality, liberty, and fraternity that sustain the gestation of a democratic, socio-political will based on the common knowledge of the human race’s common nature.

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I hope that these two theses about these surprisingly contemporary works of Rousseau help us illuminate voids and resolve enigmas that the Genevan philosopher has passed on to his future generations.