Rousseau and the project of rhetoric

Rousseau begins his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences with a quotation from Ovid. "Barbarus hic ego sum, qui non intelligor illis" Here I am a barbarian, because men understand me not. This thesis in effect, explores the ambiguous nature of Rousseau's politics and language which have have given rise to a variety of interpretations. The scope of the project is limited to a study of Rousseau's stance and use of rhetoric. I challenge the claim that Rousseau is an avowed anti-rhetorican by asserting that he is quietly advancing a project of rhetoric, one that is pedagogic in aim, and empowering in effect. The study briefly covers Rousseau's works which touch on Rousseau's keen interest in language and its seminal effects on the human condition. However, the work concentrates on Emile and La Nouvelle Heloise, two of Rousseau's lesser known works, but ones in which the esoteric nature of rhetoric, I argue, is at work. My project asserts a recovery of rhetoric in Rousseau, one that opens up a politics of renewed liberalism, but in particular a recovery in political language for emotional, imaginative, and authentic terms of political description.