Abstract

The philosopher meditating alone in his study is a cliché of western culture. But behind the hackneyed image lies a long history of controversy. Was solitude the ‘palace of learning’ that many learned people, religious and secular, perceived it, or a debilitating state of solipsistic misery and intellectual degeneracy, as its enemies described it? In the mid eighteenth century the debate became fiercely personal during a public quarrel between two philosophical luminaries: David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In the 1760s Rousseau faced persecution from state and church authorities in France and Switzerland. Hume gave him refuge in England. The relationship rapidly turned toxic as the convivial Hume sought to manage his notoriously reclusive charge. Solitude became a casus belli in a war of words that fascinated intellectual Europe. But the fracas was more complex than it appeared. Who are we with, when we are alone? For Hume, no less than Rousseau, the question proved inescapable, in both his personal career and his philosophy. A closer look at two thinkers who, on the surface, were a study in opposites, reveals much about the vicissitudes of solitude in the life of the creative mind.

中文翻译：

---

哲学上的孤独：大卫·休ume与让·雅克·卢梭

摘要

独自研究的哲学家是西方文化的陈词滥调。但是，这个刻薄的形象背后隐藏着悠久的争议历史。孤独是否是许多学过宗教和世俗的人所感知的“学习的殿堂”，还是像敌人所描述的那样，使唯心主义的苦难和智力退化成为令人衰弱的状态？在18世纪中叶，在两个哲学家戴维·休ume（David Hume）和让·雅克·卢梭（Jean-Jacques Rousseau）之间的公开争吵中，辩论变得非常激烈。1760年代，卢梭遭到了法国和瑞士政府和教会当局的迫害。休ume在英国避难。当欢乐的休ume试图控制他臭名昭著的隐性指控时，这种关系迅速变成了毒药。孤独变成了大肚子令知识分子欧洲着迷的语言之战。但是，困境比看起来要复杂得多。当我们一个人的时候，我们和谁在一起？对于休ume来说，与卢梭一样，这个问题在他的个人事业和哲学上都不可避免。仔细观察表面上是相反研究的两个思想家，可以发现很多关于创造性思维生活中孤独的变迁。