Beyond the Text: The Intellectual Historian's Podcast

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If society creates dependence and inequality, can political association also make us free? In the second episode of our Rousseau series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson move from the Discourse on Inequality (1755) to The Social Contract (1762).

We distinguish natural differences from inequalities sustained by convention and institutions, consider pity and perfectibility, and explore the tension between amour de soi and amour-propre. From agriculture and property to the general will, the conversation asks how citizens might replace dependence on other people with laws they prescribe together.

Along the way, we revisit Hobbes, Diderot and Rousseau's attachment to Geneva, consider Jack's comparison with Kant, and debate the troubling claim that a citizen can be "forced to be free". Episode 3 turns to education, Émile and Julie.

Hosted by Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome and introduction
00:28 Recap: dependence and Geneva
00:53 Can society make us free again?
01:09 Two contracts and the key dates
02:39 Natural and moral inequality
06:53 Compassion, pity and Hobbes
10:23 Perfectibility
11:51 Amour de soi and amour-propre
12:54 Agriculture, metallurgy and property
15:20 Born free, everywhere in chains
16:03 Diderot at Vincennes
17:06 The general will
19:01 Geneva and the dignity of man
20:06 Rousseau and Kant
21:11 Forced to be free?
24:15 Next episode and farewell

READ AND DISCUSS
Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.uk
The Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.com
Join the discussion: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.uk

FREE READING
Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses, translated by G. D. H. Cole:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46333
Read the Discourse on Inequality, especially Part II, and The Social Contract, Book I, chapters 1, 6, 7 and 8.

EPISODE 1
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_F2u40m6vQ
Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238237/episodes/19951622

MUSIC
Red Planet, "Queens Arrival" (TakeTones), the programme's original theme.

ARTWORK
Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762), Bibliothèque nationale de France / Gallica. Public domain.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Du_contrat_social_Rousseau_Jean-Jacques.jpg

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In the first of three Beyond the Text episodes on Rousseau, Samuel Woodall explores the life behind the arguments: the Confessions, Geneva, Madame de Warens, Paris and Diderot, the First Discourse, amour-propre, and the troubled relationship with David Hume.

Jack Thomson is unwell, so Samuel presents this opening episode solo. The Rousseau series continues on Wednesday.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
01:01 The Confessions
02:51 Geneva and Rousseau's early life
05:25 Apprenticeship
06:49 Madame de Warens
08:43 Les Charmettes
09:59 Paris and Diderot
11:38 Children and contradictions
12:36 The First Discourse
14:39 Civilisation
15:21 Amour-propre
16:34 Exile and David Hume
18:29 Conclusion

Explore Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.uk
The Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.com

READING
Rousseau, Confessions: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3913
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/

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Who gets to call another society barbarous, and what does that judgement reveal about ourselves? In the final episode of our Montaigne series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson discuss custom, European self-criticism, cruelty, compassion and the tension between honour and political expedience.

Through Of Cannibals, Of Cruelty and related essays, we ask how scepticism about custom can coexist with moral judgement, and how disagreement becomes a licence to dehumanise others.

Join the conversation: can a society hold strong convictions without turning custom into nature and opponents into barbarians?
Explore more: https://beyondthetext.co.uk
Follow The Intellectual Historian: @theintellectualhistorian

Montaigne, Episode 3 of 3. Hosted by Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson.

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Does thinking about death set us free, or keep us trapped by fear? In the second episode of our Montaigne series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson explore philosophy as preparation for death, the relationship between virtue and pleasure, and an education that develops judgement rather than merely filling the memory. We then ask how attention to ordinary life and bodily limits changes Montaigne’s approach to mortality.

Beyond the Text brings historical texts into conversation.
Explore more: https://beyondthetext.co.uk
Follow The Intellectual Historian: @theintellectualhistorian

Montaigne, Episode 2 of 3.

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In the first episode of our Montaigne series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson ask why Michel de Montaigne made himself the subject of his Essays. We explore his classical education, friendship and public life, his retreat to the tower library, and how writing became a way to examine a mind that keeps changing. Is his apparent candour straightforward honesty, literary performance, or a way of teaching readers to exercise judgement?

Beyond the Text brings historical texts into conversation.
Explore more: https://beyondthetext.co.uk
Follow The Intellectual Historian: @theintellectualhistorian