Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Rousseau And His Latent Homosexuality (But Were Afraid To Ask)

Abstract

Intellectual history demands of it’s students a variety of areas in which they must acquire proficiency. One must learn to achieve a measure of philosophical, political and literary modalities, and cultivate the flexibility required for making graceful transitions between them. In the tradition of the enlightened man of the eighteenth century, the intellectual historian cannot seek refuge through specialization, an eighteenth century concept of immaturity, but must be a ‘man of all seasons’ in daring to confront the truth in its diversities and thereby attain maturity by accepting the responsibility of autonomy. Most of the major philosophies of the Enlightenment commanded many areas of erudition not necessarily re1ated to that field which occupied a majority of their attention or benefited their primary vocation. And so, to a large and admittedly uncomfortable extent, this notion of universality in knowledge is more often than not thrust upon the students of the Enlightenment along with the hopeful expectancy that they fare reasonably well.