ABSTRACT
The closer the philosophes moved to the ground long held by Rousseau, the more sharply drawn were the lines of battle; the less feasible was a reconciliation; the more public and celebrated was their conflict; and the higher the stakes rose in the struggle between Jean-Jacques and his estranged colleagues over the leadership and definition of the Enlightenment. Occasionally, it is true, Rousseau did play the peacemaker, as when he elected himself in La Nouvelle Helose to write the terms of a proposed armistice between the philosophes and the fervently religious. Tocqueville complained that the philosophes cared about the condition of writers but were indifferent to forms of government. This chapter draws a sketch of this incipient republicanism, so as to provide the backdrop for our subsequent examination of how Rousseau outflanked the philosophes to the "left" even during their most politically bold moments.
