Abstract

According to Ernst Cassirer the unitary aspect of Rousseau's thought could be found in the idea of the subject's self-determination. More recent studies - analyzing in a more innovative fashion Rousseau's theory of self-love ("amour propre") - have stressed the constitutive dependence of the subjects on the esteem and recognition of their fellow-beings. This paper follows this second type of interpretation, but also stresses its limits. For Rousseau the Stoic ideal of personal interdependence coexists with the conception of intersubjective dependence on others.