par Van Staen, Christophe
Référence La Pensée, 370, page (111-118)
Publication Publié, 2012-04
Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : On June 11, 1751, Rousseau has borrowed at the Bibliothéque du roi, a copy of De incertitudine and vanitate scientiarum (1527) by Henry Cornelius Agrippa. Although the comparison of the first Discourse with this work was made by Voltaire, in his Lettre au Docteur Jean-Jacques Pansophe, and although Jean Starobinski critics have emphasized the potential debt that it could have towards it, the reasons for the borrowing of this book have not been fully documented.The discovery of the Agrippa's Declamation is another step in an intellectual itinerary which comes to an end with the publication and success of the first Discours. Rousseau now seems confident enough in his talent to forward in a stronger messages previously conveyed by other authors, some famous, before him.