The Impact of Sciences and Arts on the Corruption of Morals According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

This article addresses the central problematic in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) related to the impact of the development of sciences and arts on the corruption of moral values. This thesis constituted a radical critique of the assumptions of the Enlightenment, which linked cognitive progress with moral elevation. The article aims to analyze the arguments on which Rousseau relied in his Discourse on the Sciences and Arts to justify his position that the luxury resulting from modern civilization has created a sharp paradox between appearance and reality, between truth and falsehood, which led to the obliteration of virtue and its replacement by artificial values based on outward show and social recognition.
The study concludes that Rousseau does not call for the absolute rejection of science or a return to ignorance; rather, he distinguishes between false sciences that nourish vices and useful sciences that serve virtue and humanity. Although Rousseau raised the issue of the impact of sciences and arts on morals in the eighteenth century, this thesis continues to gain great relevance today in light of the challenges of artificial intelligence and modern means of communication, which reproduce the relationship between sciences and ethics. This calls on researchers to re-examine that relationship in order to probe its depths and reveal its outcomes.