The diversity of cults in Rousseau: provocations for an ethnography of religion

Abstract

This article seeks to investigate Rousseau's argument about the diversity of cults in the text Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar, where we work with the hypothesis that the author would be instigating an ethnographic approach to religions, by questioning the possibility of determining a single true religion in the context of a diversity of cults, by conjecturing that philosophers should leave their offices and directly observe people around them, as if this were the only way to achieve true cultural and religious tolerance, overcoming prejudices and getting closer to the essence of the different beliefs. By analysing the literature, our aim is to discuss the epistemic properties of the author's provocations, starting with the deconstruction of the ethnocentric argument that is sustained in travel accounts, Rousseau's distrust of sacred scriptures, as well as the role played by natural religion, which reveals a tension between conscience and reason, essential for us to reach a supposed condition of tolerance.