29
The next question to be answered is what lies outside Rousseau’s cave. On what
basis does one know one is in a cave, fettered with chains? For Plato, the answer is knowledge of
the transcendent Idea of the Good. With this knowledge, one can see that the shadows are simply
shadows. Rousseau’s answer appears to be the same, and this is what completes the remarkable
correspondence between the two great thinkers. Rousseau had indicated in the Emile that there
are “eternal laws of nature” (E, 473 [IV: 857]). He also speaks there of an “eternal justice” (E,
292 [IV: 603]).
23
It is unsurprising then to find him declare in the Social Contract, “What is good
and conformable to order is so by the nature of things and independently of human conventions. .
. . No doubt there is a universal justice emanating from reason alone” (SC, 66 [III: 378]). Later in
the Reveries, Rousseau says that the “subtle sophistries of metaphysicians . . . cannot outweigh
the eternal truths which have been accepted at all times, recognized by all nations, and indelibly
engraved on the human heart” (Reveries, 59 [I: 1021]).24 While outlining all the dimensions of
Rousseau’s metaphysics, such as they are, is beyond the scope of the present essay,
25
a few
remarks are merited. First, both Plato and Rousseau characterize their highest principles as
“eternal”. Second, they both eschew agreement or convention as the source of these highest
23 This description of justice is found in the “Profession of the Savoyard Vicar,” which I,
following Cranston (Cranston 1991, 197), take to be the authentic voice of Rousseau with respect
to Ideas.
24 There is an extensive literature contesting this understanding of Rousseau, including Vaughan
[1915] 1962, Strauss 1953, Masters 1968, and Melzer 1983, 1990. This is substantially addressed
in Derathé 1970 (151-171) and Williams 2004. That Rousseau is committed to an understanding
of political principles as eternal and nonconventional is also espoused in Berlin [1952] 2002 (35),
Chapman 1956 (29), Coppleston [1960] 1994 (99), Leigh 1964 (255), Grimsley 1972 (56),
Rosenblatt 1997 (176-177).
25 This, again, is addressed in Williams 2004.
Convention