As I sat by my computer, preparing notes and evidence for Tuesday’s debate on Rousseau, I found the topic on whether or not innovation leads to/prevents happiness to be extremely insightful. The question is one that holds a great number of valid opinions, depending on the angle that the question is approached from. With a great number of differing interpretations and arguments, one concept that is deeply rooted in the argument stems from Rousseau’s philosophies behind amour de soi and amour propre.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a Genevan philosopher, considered to be one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe. In Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts, Rousseau writes of the arts and sciences as a corrupting force on the human mind, distracting them from fulfilling self-preservation and perfectibility.
When referencing the two phrases during lecture and seminar, I found Rousseau’s reasoning behind defining the terms and how they were connected to man to hold substance—information that could be analyzed and picked apart at.
Amour de soi, self-love, is a concept in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau that references—describing the type of mentality that man held before the appearance of the “civilized” society. He connects the term to the primitive world, stating how amour de soi was the time in which people were happiest. Due to the lack of modernization, in areas such as technology, people were not engrossed with the way that they were being viewed as by others. He emphasizes how “… between the indolence of our primitive state and the petulant activity of our egocentrism (amour propre), must have been the happiest and most durable epoch” (74).
Thus, Rousseau compares this philosophy to amour propre, which is defined as when man depends on the opinion of others to be fulfilled. He ties amour propre with the “civilized” world, for modernity has been dictated by this philosophy. People have become fixated on the approval of others rather than recognizing their own self worth.
The two concepts have resonated with me as we analyzed them to a greater degree during seminar. This idea that self-love has become dictated by outside sources rather than oneself has been addressed in modern society often. There is a constant debate on whether or not technology and modernization is progress or regress. According to Rousseau, progress is regress. The use of technology has formed a network beyond in person interactions, making people more self-aware of their actions and how they are perceived by the world. Taking social media to account, users are consumed with the likes and comments they receive from others—it becomes a numbers game. If one doesn’t get the number of likes they anticipated for, they start to question their self worth and end up deleting the picture all together.
Moreover, Rousseau argument is that modernization, such as advancements in technology, have caused people to drift away from amour de soi, gaining self-love from oneself, to amour propre, getting “self-love” from others. In some senses, I do agree with Rousseau, for technology has become such a crucial part in one’s everyday life, it is easy to get sucked into an endless cycle. People become discontent, never happy with what they have and always wanting more on top of it. Due to this interconnected world that has been made through technological advancements, amour de soi is starting to get wiped out by amour propre.
However, modernization has also led to the growth and development of what our society stands as today. THe level of productivity and advancement that society continues to build on has been extremely impactful to our everyday lives—from mobile phones to GPS’s.
Ultimately, while there are a number of critics to Rousseau’s claims, there are also a great number of supporters, giving fair ground to argue from either side. What some may view as an advantage of modernization can also be recognized as a flaw by others.
Exploring Empire 