Till Death Do Us Part

Francisco Contreras Moran

St. John's College, 2020

I look at the development and education of human sentiments in Rousseau's Emile in order to posit that a key aim of the book is to reform modern liberal society through a reimagination of the traditional family unit. I aim to show that Rousseau's main aim -- though rhetorically obfuscated and disordered -- is to invite the women of his society to direct, control, and manipulate their men towards their natural good, and in doing so, to improve the whole of human life and society.