Beans and Melons: Rousseau\u2019s Vegetable Garden

Jérôme Brillaud

doi:10.1007/s11061-020-09658-2

Abstract

This article focuses on a rarely studied aspect of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s oeuvre: his interest in gardening and more precisely vegetable gardening. Close attention to the text reveals that gardening is part of larger philosophical questions related to private property, luxury, space, education and theatre. Some of Rousseau’s most productive ideas are supported by references to gardening particularly the cultivation of ‘miserable’ beans and ‘prized’ melons. The two plants which were commonly grown in eighteenth-century gardens are at the centre of a philosophical parable in Emile. Beans and melons and their symbolical values fertilise larger questions Rousseau engaged with throughout his life. Although he favoured botany over horticulture, he used kitchen gardens as sites of philosophical experiments.

Highlights

Much has been written about Rousseau and nature
In his philosophical and literary works, nature appears in three main forms: in the Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, the hypothetical state of nature represents a benchmark by which to measure our denaturation1; nature is painted on the backdrop of Julie, or the New Heloise, it is woven into the narrative structure of his novel, where it serves as an aesthetic and moral principle; thirdly, in his botanical oeuvre, nature as an object of curiosity offers a respite from philosophy and from society in general
A letter Rousseau wrote to the Duchess of Portland from exile in England in 1766 captures his views on botany: ‘The study of nature detaches us from ourselves, and elevates us to its Author. It is in this sense that one truly becomes a philosopher; it is in this way that natural history and botany have a use for Wisdom and virtue’ (Rousseau 2000, 173)

Summary

Introduction

Much has been written about Rousseau and nature. In his philosophical and literary works, nature appears in three main forms: in the Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, the hypothetical state of nature represents a benchmark by which to measure our denaturation1; nature is painted on the backdrop of Julie, or the New Heloise, it is woven into the narrative structure of his novel, where it serves as an aesthetic and moral principle; thirdly, in his botanical oeuvre, nature as an object of curiosity offers a respite from philosophy and from society in general. Keywords Rousseau · Gardening · Vegetable · Philosophy · Property · Enclosure · Luxury

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Conclusion