SENTIMENT MORAL ET INNÉISME: ROUSSEAU (ET BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE) CONTRE HELVÉTIUS

Moral Sentiment and Innateism: Rousseau (and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre) against Helvétius · The article focuses on the «historiographical myth» of the opposition between Rousseau and Helvétius, one of the most famous episodes of the «affaire» De l’esprit, starting from the judgement of Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, one of Rousseau’s most important «disciples» and apologists. The idea that Bernardin suggests, namely that Rousseau and Helvétius’ common belonging to the «school» of the morality of passions is more relevant than their belonging to spiritualism and materialism, is both surprising and fruitful. Beyond the differences that may oppose them in the gnoseological (activity of judgment vs passivity of judgment) and pedagogical (private education vs public education) fields, Rousseau and Helvétius undoubtedly share the idea of a determining moral role of passions and affections.