Der prix de morale der Akademie von Dijon für das Jahr 1750

Abstract

Abstract The article reconsiders Rousseau’s famous Discours sur les sciences et les arts within the medial and institutional context of the prize question (prix de morale) proposed by the Academy of Dijon for the year 1750. To do so, it pays special attention to the contributions submitted by Rousseau’s (thirteen) competitors, which so far have hardly been analysed by historians of literature and philosophy. The paper also expands on the institutional and social structure of the Academy of Dijon as well as the particular profile of its morality prizes organized since 1743. In addition, the article situates the contest of 1750 in the broader context of the concours académique and outlines the evolution of the genre with its specific rhetorical traditions since the end of the seventeenth century. Thus, the crucial question, how the Academy of Dijon came to select Rousseau’s text, can be approached from a different angle. Finally, this perspective also sheds new light upon certain aspects of a major work in the history of philosophy - the Discours sur les sciences et les arts.