Political Science · Western Political Thought
Rousseau won the prize in an essay contest sponsored by the Academy of Dijon in 1749 on the subject:
A'Has the progress of the sciences and the arts contributed to corrupt or purify morals?' ✓ Correct
B'Has the progress of the sciences contributed to corrupt morals?'
C'Has the development of the sciences contributed to corrupt or purify morals?'
DNone of the above
Correct answer: (A) 'Has the progress of the sciences and the arts contributed to corrupt or purify morals?' — The prize subject was whether the progress of the sciences and arts corrupts or purifies morals, so the answer is the first option.
Explanation
★The prize subject was whether the progress of the sciences and arts corrupts or purifies morals, so the answer is the first option.
★Rousseau's reply became the First Discourse, the Discourse on the Sciences and Arts of 1750.
★He argued, against the question's hopeful expectation, that progress had corrupted morals.
★Civilisation, he said, breeds luxury, vanity and hypocrisy.
★It draws people away from natural virtue, sincerity and simplicity.
★This essay made Rousseau famous and set the theme of all his later work.
★The other wordings drop the arts or the contrast, missing the exact prize subject.
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