Rousseau and the Desire for Communion

Whatever the differences among Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s various models of recovery and reconciliation, they are unified by a desire for communion, whether it be communion with nature, with God, or with one’s fellow human beings. This article explores the various ways in which the impulse toward communion is pursued across the spectrum of Rousseau’s writings on society and solitude. When Rousseau’s writings are read through the lens of communion, symmetries emerge among Rousseau’s otherwise disparate models of reconciliation.