Re:David Graeber’s Possible Worlds
by NoThisIsMe on Friday November 12, 2021 @01:17AM
(#29196764)
I haven't read the book but I assume here Rousseau is serving as an emblem for the Enlightenment (or an aspect of it at least), which is generally regarded as uhh kind of a big deal. That there were earlier Europeans here and there who discussed some of the same concepts is of little significance.
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Re:David Graeber’s Possible Worlds
by LudwigNagasena on Friday November 12, 2021 @03:52AM
(#29197419)
The Enlightenment didn’t grew out of concerns for inequality, it wasn’t even its big point even though the Enlightenment was a very intellectually diverse movement. Read Kant’s essay on the Enlightenment, it contains the word “equality” exactly zero times.
Also, it is quite ironic to mention the thought of Rousseau as an exemplar of the Enlightenment when he is often put into the camp of Counter-Enlightenment.