Sade and Rousseau
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | [[Marquis de Sade]] (1740 – 1814) and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] (1712 – 1778) are often juxtaposed to illustrate the concept of [[state of nature]]. Rousseau argues that nature is essentially good, Sade that nature is cruel. | + | [[Marquis de Sade]] (1740 – 1814) and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] (1712 – 1778) are often juxtaposed to illustrate the concept of [[state of nature]]. Rousseau argues that nature is [[essentially good]], Sade that [[nature is cruel]]. |
| Paglia says in ''[[Sexual Personae]]'' that "[[Rousseau]]'s [[mother nature]] is Christian Madonna, lovingly enfolding her infant son. Sade's [[mother nature]] is [[pagan]] cannibal, her dragon jaws dripping [[sperm]] and [[spittle]]." | Paglia says in ''[[Sexual Personae]]'' that "[[Rousseau]]'s [[mother nature]] is Christian Madonna, lovingly enfolding her infant son. Sade's [[mother nature]] is [[pagan]] cannibal, her dragon jaws dripping [[sperm]] and [[spittle]]." | ||
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Marquis de Sade (1740 – 1814) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778) are often juxtaposed to illustrate the concept of state of nature. Rousseau argues that nature is essentially good, Sade that nature is cruel.
Paglia says in Sexual Personae that "Rousseau's mother nature is Christian Madonna, lovingly enfolding her infant son. Sade's mother nature is pagan cannibal, her dragon jaws dripping sperm and spittle."
Rousseau contends that man possesses an innate goodness, he is a"noble savage" when in the "state of nature" (the state of all the other animals, and the condition man was in before the creation of civilization and society), and that good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society. He viewed society as "artificial" and "corrupt" and that the furthering of society results in the continuing unhappiness of man.
Sade's view is diametrically opposed, in Philosophy in the Bedroom, his most philosophical work he holds that "Cruelty, very far from being a vice, is the first sentiment Nature injects in us all. The infant breaks his toy, bites his nurse's breast, strangles his canary long before he is able to reason; cruelty is stamped in animals, in whom, as I think I have said, Nature's laws are more emphatically to be read than in ourselves; cruelty exists amongst savages, so much nearer to Nature than civilized men are."
See also
