Abstract:
In the Essay on the Origin of Languages, a text posthumously published in 1781, Rousseau reflects on aspects of anthropological and social formation in light of the different climatic and geographical settings in which men live. The aim of this paper is to examine the importance of the notions of labor (travail) and idleness (oisivété) for elements that, in the Essay, constitute the anthropology developed by Rousseau. To this end, we show how the various difficulties imposed by nature require varied responses to obstacles imposed by the environment. Establishing a polarization between North and South through a description of multiple types of human labor, we can see how such activities will shape, in their own way, the different languages and passions that characterize the northern and southern individuals: if in the North labor represses the passions, in the South one may find a condition that better suits men's natural idleness, an anthropological attribute which is essential to the natural system advanced by Rousseau. Lastly, we emphasize how the importance of labor as a response to different climatic-geographic conditions also plays a role in the formation of peoples, creating material conditions and possible spaces of companionship, thus becoming an essential element in the complex that forms the genesis of the anthropological and social thought of Rousseau.
Keywords:
Labor; Idleness; Essay on the Origin of Languages; Rousseau; Anthropology