Rousseau's opposition to the theater is well known: far from purging the passions, it serves only to exacerbate them, and to render them hypocritical.
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe—philosopher, literary critic, and translator—is one of the leading intellectuals in France. He teaches philosophy and aesthetics at the University of Strasbourg. Among his works translated into English is Typography: Mimesis, Philosophy, Politics (Stanford paperback edition, 1998)..