Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Rousseau and Drumpf

Pankaj Mishra's essay in the August 1 New Yorker says Jean-Jacques Rousseau predicted Donald Drumpf, and includes this paragraph of particular interest to us:
Heinrich Meier, in his new book, “On the Happiness of the Philosophic Life” (Chicago), offers an overview of Rousseau’s thought through a reading of his last, unfinished book, “Reveries of a Solitary Walker,” which he began in 1776, two years before his death. In “Reveries,” Rousseau moved away from political prescriptions and cultivated his belief that “liberty is not inherent in any form of government, it is in the heart of the free man.”
Might be worth a look.
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Also noted, in "New Scientist":
          Desk job death risk is eliminated by an hour’s walk or cycle.
An hour a day keeps death away. An analysis of data from a million people has found that an hour of moderate physical activity a day is enough to cancel out the deadly effect of working at a desk all day.
The analysis confirmed that too much time spent sitting is deadly, finding that those who sat for more than eight hours a day without doing exercise were up to 60 per cent more likely to die prematurely... (continues)

3 comments:

  1. “Liberty is not inherent; it is in the heart of the free man, which manifests in the collective fabric of a civilized society, confirmed by a democratic government and upheld by positive law." There, I fixed it for him.

    It looks like Rousseau had way too much Aristotle and Diogenes and not enough Plato--contra Herman.

    After reading the article, I have a whole new take on the phrases "noble savage" and "nothing is more peaceable than man in his natural state."



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  3. Good fix, astute analysis. Rousseau didn't walk the entire walk.

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