The Master in Rousseau: Authority and Seduction

Abstract

This article is the result of a bibliographic research in the works of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau with the objective of analyzing the categories authority and seduction as constituents of the figure of the master. From the hypothesis that man, in the state of nature, was endowed with an essentially good soul and the belief that the abandonment of this original state to live in society is responsible for the state of moral degradation in which humanity finds itself, he attributes to education the function of protecting man from the evils to which he is susceptible when living in society. In this process, the formative importance of the relationship between master and disciple assumes centrality, since it requires a pedagogical pact in which the strength of the figure of the master consists precisely in his firm subtlety, whose capacity to lead his disciples is so masterfully ordered, that it makes itself felt as an enchanting freedom of thought and choice.