Préambule. Fabrique de l’opinion et folie de la dissidence dans le « complot » selon Rousseau

Abstract

This article offers an actualizing reading of Rousseau’s autobiographical works (Confessions, Dialogues, Rêveries) that shifts the usual analytical framework regarding the conspiracy of which the writer and philosopher presented himself as the target. Rather than reducing this “conspiracy” to a subjective structure, Citton considers it as the symptom of a socio-historical evolution that led to the emergence of public opinion – which has conditioned and heralded the development of a dissidence that may not be as delirious as it seems.