# Rousseau’s Confessions: the Self as Its Own Justification

Literature I · Great Works of World Literature · https://tryals.app/learn/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification

## The Second Confessions

Rousseau began his *Confessions* in 1765 and they were published after his death, in two parts: **twelve books, six to a part**. Taking Augustine's title was a deliberate provocation, because the project is inverted at almost every point.

The clearest difference is the **addressee**. Augustine writes to God, who already knows. Rousseau writes to a **tribunal of readers**, and he opens by summoning them:

> "Let the last trumpet sound when it will, I shall come forward with this book in my hand, and say aloud: Thus have I acted."

Where Augustine confesses to be forgiven, Rousseau confesses to be **understood**, and the difference reorganises the entire form. An addressee who already knows the facts cannot be persuaded; an addressee who must be convinced can be. Rousseau's book therefore has a case to make in a way Augustine's does not.

The second difference is what a confession is *for*:

| | Augustine | Rousseau |
|---|---|---|
| Addressee | God | Readers, as a tribunal |
| Purpose | To be forgiven | To be understood |
| The self is | Fallen, needing grace | Naturally good, corrupted by society |
| Shameful episode | Evidence of a divided will | Evidence of sincerity |
| Ends in | Conversion | Vindication |

Rousseau's claim to **absolute sincerity**, "I have displayed myself as I was", is the book's engine and its problem. He records humiliating material (the stolen ribbon he blamed on a servant girl, his abandonment of five children to a foundling hospital) and the recording is offered as proof of honesty. But a shameful admission made *in order to demonstrate honesty* is doing rhetorical work, and readers have argued ever since about whether the sincerity is a fact about the man or an effect of the writing.

The third difference is **feeling**. Rousseau's account of childhood, of landscape, of being wronged, treats emotional experience as evidence rather than decoration, and does so in a prose designed to transmit it. That decision runs directly into Romanticism, and the modern assumption that an inner life is worth describing at length because it is *yours* begins here rather than with Augustine, for whom it was worth describing because it was God's.

> **Common pitfall:** taking Rousseau's self-accusations as straightforward evidence of honesty. They are the strongest move available to someone arguing for their own sincerity, which is precisely why they cannot settle the question by themselves.

## Practice questions

7 of this lesson's 11 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. Rousseau addresses his Confessions to a tribunal of readers rather than to God. What does this change about the book?

A. It removes the requirement to confess deeply humiliating episodes
B. It turns the whole narrative into a plea for divine forgiveness
C. It gives the book a case to argue, since readers can be persuaded
D. It frees the author from any obligation to prove his own sincerity

**Answer:** C. It gives the book a case to argue, since readers can be persuaded

**Why:** It gives the book **a case to argue**. Augustine’s addressee already possesses the facts, so his confession cannot be a defence. Rousseau’s addressee must be convinced, which makes the whole work forensic, and makes its sincerity a rhetorical achievement rather than a given.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/rousseau-addresses-his-confessions-to-a-tribunal-of-readers-rather

### 2. Rousseau’s inclusion of humiliating episodes settles the question of whether he is sincere.

**Answer:** False

**Why:** **False.** A shameful admission offered *as proof of honesty* is performing rhetorical work, which is why it cannot settle the question by itself. Readers have argued about Rousseau’s sincerity for two hundred and fifty years precisely because his best evidence is also his most calculated move.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/rousseaus-inclusion-of-humiliating-episodes-settles-the-question-of

### 3. Arrange the stages of Rousseau’s confessional argument as the book presents them.

**Answer:**

1. I was born naturally good, like everyone
2. Society and circumstance corrupted that nature
3. Here are my worst actions, told without concealment
4. The telling itself proves my sincerity
5. Therefore judge me as I truly was, not as my enemies say

**Why:** Laid out in order it is plainly forensic: a doctrine, a cause of the damage, evidence offered against interest, an inference from that evidence, and a request for a verdict. That structure is why the Confessions reads so differently from Augustine’s, whose narrative ends in conversion rather than judgement.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/arrange-the-stages-of-rousseaus-confessional-argument-as-the-book

### 4. How many books do Rousseau’s Confessions contain in total?

**Answer:** 12

**Why:** **Twelve**, in two parts of six. Rousseau wrote them between 1765 and 1770 and they appeared posthumously, the first part in 1782 and the second in 1789, by which time the Revolution had made his account of natural goodness and social corruption political rather than personal.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/how-many-books-do-rousseaus-confessions-contain-in-total

### 5. For Augustine, the inner life is worth describing because it belongs to God; for Rousseau, it is worth describing simply because it is his own. What does this shift imply for how autobiographical feeling is treated?

A. Feeling replaces moral action as the sole criterion for virtue
B. Feeling becomes valid evidence rather than mere decoration
C. Feeling serves as proof of a fallen nature requiring redemption
D. Feeling must be purged so that the rational self may be judged

**Answer:** B. Feeling becomes valid evidence rather than mere decoration

**Why:** Treating subjective emotion as inherently significant establishes personal experience as authoritative evidence in its own right, anticipating Romanticism rather than Augustine's framework of divine oversight.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/for-augustine-the-inner-life-is-worth-describing-because-it-belongs

### 6. Complete the comparison of the two Confessions.

**Answer:** Augustine addresses **God**, who already knows, and seeks **forgiveness**. Rousseau addresses a tribunal of **readers**, who must be convinced, and seeks **vindication**.

**Why:** The addressee determines the genre. Confession to one who knows everything can only be a change in the confessor; confession to a jury is a defence. Rousseau borrowed the title precisely to make the reversal visible.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/complete-the-comparison-of-the-two-confessions

### 7. Rousseau’s doctrine that people are naturally good and corrupted by society changes what his confession is trying to establish.

**Answer:** True

**Why:** **True.** If the self is fallen, the worst actions call for grace; if it is naturally good and society did the damage, the same actions become evidence in a social diagnosis. The doctrine converts autobiography into argument.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/literature-i/rousseaus-confessions-the-self-as-its-own-justification/rousseaus-doctrine-that-people-are-naturally-good-and-corrupted-by