Une lecture du temps dans la Nouvelle Héloïse

An epistolary novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published in 1761. The novel's subtitle points to the history of Héloïse d'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard, a medieval story of passion and Christian renunciation. Although Rousseau wrote the work as a novel, a philosophical theory about authenticity permeates through it, as he explores autonomy and authenticity as moral values. A common interpretation is that Rousseau valued the ethics of authenticity over rational moral principles, as he illustrates the principle that one should do what is imposed upon him by society only insofar as it would seem congruent with one's "secret principles" and feelings, being constituent of one's core identity. Thus unauthentic behavior would pave the way to self-destruction.