Rousseau: Meditations of a Solitary Walker (2016)

theculturium.com

59 points·Red_Tarsius··4 comments

Meditations of a Solitary Walker is an abridged version of Reveries of the Solitary Walker. Unlike Meditations, Reveries is available new in both paper and ebook formats: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140443630 .

The original French version is available freely in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats: https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/722065.Reveries_of... and also as an audio book: http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livre-audio-gratuit-mp3/rous...

Wow, I'm struck by the similarities to Buddhism. Renunciation, solitude, reflection, nothing to fear or hope for, unmoved by worldly events, at peace. Some of this stuff is like what I would expect to hear from someone like Thich Nhat Hanh.

The idea of the noble savage is problematic given that "society" is the product of individuals. To say society corrupts the individual means that that which is caused by individuals (society) corrupts the individual. It would follow that individuals are the source of their own corruption.

> The idea of the noble savage is problematic given that "society" is the product of individuals.

I think that there are a lot of problems with the idea of the noble savage, but surely the idea that people (or any system) behave differently individually or en masse is not one of them.

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