Arte e natura nello scritto “Examen d’un écrit de J.-J. Rousseau” di J. de Maistre

Abstract

The aim of this introduction is to present a little known text by J. de Maistre, published for the first time only in 1870 inside the Oeuvres inédites du comte Joseph de Maistre (vol. IV, Vaton 1870), trying to focus on two main themes: the philosophical meaning of the terms ‘art’ and ‘nature’ in the Savoyard counter-revolutionary thinker. Although Maistre’s critic is directed towards the Rousseauian Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), the background of the discussion involves some wider theoretical questions about the metaphysical order of the world, its creatures, and about ‘art’ as the result of human historical capabilities.