While Voltaire believed that science advancements and society's rational improvements were good for humanity, Rousseau believed arts, sciences, society, and civilization in general had corrupted "natural man". He believed that humanity had to return to its original condition the "Natural" landscape. People in the 18th century had developed a taste for landscape art. The growing opportunities for traveling increased the want for particular places and certain geographic settings. Rousseau and Voltaire were both philosophers but they had many differences. They disagreed on just about everything. I read that when Rousseau wrote his book he sent Voltaire a copy of his book The Social Contract, and Voltaire answered him with a letter in which he said, "I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in the design of making us all stupid. One longs, in reading your book, to walk on all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel unhappily the impossibility of resuming it." They each tried to insult the other. Rousseau by sending Voltaire a copy of his book and Voltaire by sending back the letter.
-Benny Guzman
No comments:
Post a Comment