Day 15: Rousseau is Dead! Long Live Rousseau!

Last night I finished The Social Contract and Discourses. I wouldn't call it mentally exhausting...unless you count the time spent focusing on the inconsistencies in his philosophies. Or, of course, wading through the misogyny and bigotry. It was like panning for gold. Nuggets of truth and wisdom surrounded by the detritus of "what-the fuck-were-you-thinking?"

I enjoyed the historical context more than anything. His political philosophy is said to have influenced the French Revolution, and legend has it that Marat used to stand on street corners and read from The Social Contract.

Relevance for the LOST viewer? Absolutely! A reoccurring theme in Rousseau's work is his belief that if man were more primitive, he would be more happy. He believes all of our problems stem from modern civilization. Rousseau wrote the following in Discourse On Inequality:

The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody

I'm giving my brain a break. I picked up Jungle Travel & Survival from the Library today. I'll start it tonight. Here's where i stand so far:

• Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read and Write Them
• Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction
• A concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian
• Integrated Korean: Beginning Level 1 Textbook (KLEAR Textbooks in Korean
• Contacts: Langue Et Culture Francaises
• Lost and Philosophy: The Island Has Its Reasons
• Two Treatises on Government
• The Social Contract and Discourses
• Works of David Hume.)
• Utilitarianism and Other Essays
• The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition
• How to Build a Time Machine
• Black Holes, Wormholes & Time Machines
• The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics
• From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
• The Field Updated Ed: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
• Jungle Travel & Survival
• DEEP SURVIVAL