Rousseau et les Pongos

In note X of the Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes, Rousseau calls the Pongoes up in the context of his anthropology. The question is to determine wether the Pongoes are human beings. A positive answer would confirm Rousseau’s definition of human essence, which...

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Main Author: Thomas Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société Francophone de Primatologie 2012-12-01
Series:Revue de Primatologie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/primatologie/1009
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author Thomas Robert
author_facet Thomas Robert
author_sort Thomas Robert
collection DOAJ
description In note X of the Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes, Rousseau calls the Pongoes up in the context of his anthropology. The question is to determine wether the Pongoes are human beings. A positive answer would confirm Rousseau’s definition of human essence, which is represented by the natural man described in the first part of the Discours. Rousseau criticises the narratives of travellers, who consider, at best, the Pongoes as beasts or, at worst, as monsters. After having demonstrated the mistakes committed by the travellers with respect to their observations of the Pongoes, Rousseau proposes an empirical method leading to the elaboration of an ethnology of all societies. In this article, I analyse the relation between humanity and animality before studying the note on the Pongoes, which leads me to argue for a Rousseauistic approach in primatology.
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spelling doaj-art-17238e0b465e4084a99df7a1aa5860b52025-01-30T10:01:46ZengSociété Francophone de PrimatologieRevue de Primatologie2077-37572012-12-01410.4000/primatologie.1009Rousseau et les PongosThomas RobertIn note X of the Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes, Rousseau calls the Pongoes up in the context of his anthropology. The question is to determine wether the Pongoes are human beings. A positive answer would confirm Rousseau’s definition of human essence, which is represented by the natural man described in the first part of the Discours. Rousseau criticises the narratives of travellers, who consider, at best, the Pongoes as beasts or, at worst, as monsters. After having demonstrated the mistakes committed by the travellers with respect to their observations of the Pongoes, Rousseau proposes an empirical method leading to the elaboration of an ethnology of all societies. In this article, I analyse the relation between humanity and animality before studying the note on the Pongoes, which leads me to argue for a Rousseauistic approach in primatology.https://journals.openedition.org/primatologie/1009Rousseaupongoeshumanityanimalityethnology
spellingShingle Thomas Robert
Rousseau et les Pongos
Revue de Primatologie
Rousseau
pongoes
humanity
animality
ethnology
title Rousseau et les Pongos
title_full Rousseau et les Pongos
title_fullStr Rousseau et les Pongos
title_full_unstemmed Rousseau et les Pongos
title_short Rousseau et les Pongos
title_sort rousseau et les pongos
topic Rousseau
pongoes
humanity
animality
ethnology
url https://journals.openedition.org/primatologie/1009
work_keys_str_mv AT thomasrobert rousseauetlespongos