Les Confessions de saint Augustin et celles de Rousseau

Rousseau’s choice of title establishes a diptych with his medieval predecessor. The converted and enlightened Augustine is no longer firmly locked in the past. The lucidity of the present assumes a superior value. Thanks to his anthropology free from original sin, Rousseau does not consider the child he once was as qualitatively inferior : deterioration is caused by social contact. Rousseau puts the blame on society.