Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (First Discourse) and Polemics demonstrates the continued relevance of Rousseau's thought. Where his critics argue for correction of the excesses and corruptions of knowledge and the sciences as sufficient, Rousseau attacks the social and political effects of the dominant forms of scientific knowledge.

This second volume in the series (The Collected Writings of Rousseau) contains the entire First Discourse, contemporary attacks on it, and Rousseau's replies to his critics; it concludes with Rousseau's summary of the debate in his preface to Narcissus.