Notes about friendship, life in retreat, and the fullness, found in Rousseau’s philosophy

Abstract

I intend hereby to make an encounter between "Letters to Malesherbes" and "My picture", two small Rousseau's texts which are included in the list of his epistolary, confessional and autobiographical works. I aim at using some of the philosopher's considerations about friendship, self-knowledge, and the completeness of human existence, found in solitary life and in exile. I comprehend that the Rousseau’s writings, in general, tend to shed some light on others and that his thought remains a unique unit. Therefore reading these two short works becomes an important task, which is reinforced by the fact that they, although it can be doubted, possess great value in philosophical terms, making the defense of freedom, transparency, honesty, authenticity, and the meeting among men, which eventually rebels itself against either moral or political corruption in social life.