Rousseau : Otium et Paresse

This article develops how Rousseau, moving away from the classical Roman notion of otium (with its privileges and ostentation), proposes an alternative way of conceiving and cultivating leisure. In the second Discourse, Rousseau starts with recalling an anthropological narrative of the natural man a...

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Main Author: Pierre Saint-Amand
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2025-06-01
Series:Diciottesimo Secolo
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/ds/article/view/15461
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author Pierre Saint-Amand
author_facet Pierre Saint-Amand
author_sort Pierre Saint-Amand
collection DOAJ
description This article develops how Rousseau, moving away from the classical Roman notion of otium (with its privileges and ostentation), proposes an alternative way of conceiving and cultivating leisure. In the second Discourse, Rousseau starts with recalling an anthropological narrative of the natural man as being fundamentally idle. But it is in the Rêveries du promeneur solitaire that he achieves his radical personal project of leisure as laziness, in the forms of far niente, reverie and, later, botany. These solitary (in)activities, well established, can then be opened to a shared experience of friendship, a small circle of lovers of plants.
format Article
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publisher Firenze University Press
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series Diciottesimo Secolo
spelling doaj-art-0694d3e951744f0194bace73c6fd8a772025-08-20T02:50:13ZengFirenze University PressDiciottesimo Secolo2531-41652025-06-019310010.36253/ds-1546114298Rousseau : Otium et ParessePierre Saint-Amand0Yale University, USAThis article develops how Rousseau, moving away from the classical Roman notion of otium (with its privileges and ostentation), proposes an alternative way of conceiving and cultivating leisure. In the second Discourse, Rousseau starts with recalling an anthropological narrative of the natural man as being fundamentally idle. But it is in the Rêveries du promeneur solitaire that he achieves his radical personal project of leisure as laziness, in the forms of far niente, reverie and, later, botany. These solitary (in)activities, well established, can then be opened to a shared experience of friendship, a small circle of lovers of plants.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/ds/article/view/15461 rousseauleisureidlenessreveriebotany
spellingShingle Pierre Saint-Amand
Rousseau : Otium et Paresse
Diciottesimo Secolo
rousseau
leisure
idleness
reverie
botany
title Rousseau : Otium et Paresse
title_full Rousseau : Otium et Paresse
title_fullStr Rousseau : Otium et Paresse
title_full_unstemmed Rousseau : Otium et Paresse
title_short Rousseau : Otium et Paresse
title_sort rousseau otium et paresse
topic rousseau
leisure
idleness
reverie
botany
url https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/ds/article/view/15461
work_keys_str_mv AT pierresaintamand rousseauotiumetparesse