Rousseau e o Coursier Indompté

Abstract

This article presents a reading around Jean-Jacques Rousseau that can contribute to contemporary research in his work. The methodology applied to this reading is that of historical-philosophical and hermeneutic analysis, with a view to unraveling the ethical significance of a passage from Discours sur l'origine et les fondemens de l'inégalité parmi les hommes dealing with the "coursier indompté", little explored notion which, in the original text, articulates with those of "homme barbare" and "orageuse liberté" to form, respectively, a block of opposition to "cheval dressé", "homme civilisé" and "assujettissement" tranquille". The working hypothesis that inspires the development of this investigation is that the examination that highlights the peculiarities of the Rousseaunian critique of the malaise of civilization and the social morality of its century constitutes a way of knowledge for fundamental aspects of the whole philosophy of Rousseau, as well as the questions of ethics that the author formulated in such a way that they never lose their force and their actuality.