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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
The whole of Nature is my witness. It is not in contradiction with itself; I see in nature an admirable physical order always consistent with itself. The moral order should be the same. Yet my life's experience has been the apparent breakdown of this order, and so it will begin after my death.
In this letter to Moultou, Rousseau introduces us directly to the problem of order, one of the most important themes in his thought. In his autobiographical writings, towards the end of his life, Rousseau emphasizes the principles which inspired his thinking about morality and politics.
There is a natural order which comes from God and to this there corresponds a moral order, which also comes from God. In contrast, relations between men are corrupt both in the realm of natural and moral order. Men's lives unfold amidst the turmoil of disordered relationships, which prevent any one of them from living in harmony with his true moral nature and enjoying a state of union with his fellows.
The only hope for man who has sought in vain for love, friendship and fatherland, lies now in the world beyond, to which everything must ‘finally return’. In the metaphysical order, justice will at last be sovereign and virtue will have its reward.
But this is, in a manner of speaking, to start at the end.
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