Emile interprète de Rousseau. La politique face à l’histoire, le livre de Patrice Canivez

Abstract

Emile, Interpreter of Rousseau: Politics in the Face of History: A Book by Patrice Canivez

This article is a critical reading of Patrice Canivez's book, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Politics in the Face of History (PUF, 2025). I highlight several aspects that constitute the originality of Canivez's approach: philosophical discourse as action (a category from Eric Weil's logic of philosophy), the idea of a pragmatics of discourse in Rousseau, the unity of the work as a network, and the principle of discussion as a rule of writing. I propose that the author's hermeneutical tactic is to ascribe a meta-discursive function to Emile. From Emile's perspective, Canivez derives the principle that Rousseau becomes aware of the status of his own discourse and that he raises the question of discourse as action. This allows Canivez to demonstrate the importance of history for Rousseau, based on his conception of historical account. Occasionally I comment on his solutions and propose alternative paths, in line with the spirit of the discussion he proposes.

Keywords: Rousseau, Patrice Canivez, politique et histoire, discours philosophique, action politique, discussion