Thought on Rousseau
One line bugged me: "I leave to anyone who will undertake it, the discussion of the following difficult problem: Which was the more necessary, a society already established for the invention of language, or language already invented for the establishment of society?" (96-97).This is why I don't like telling people I meet that I am a Philosophy major: philosophers are known for getting themselves in ruts, and it's true! It's frustrating! It's time-consuming! It's infuriating!So what's my answer to this 'paradox' Rousseau lays out before us? I respond boldly and simply: "Both." And this is not a cop-out response. Allow me to explain the logic: the point of language is for an individual to communicate with another individual and one individual wouldn't need to communicate with any other individuals unless these other individuals were around. Therefore, 'language' and 'society' grew concurrently. Presto.I'm a philosopher. This is not reductionist. This is thought. Clear, plain, and simple.