..[R]eason of itself, independent on all experience, ordains what ought to take place, that accordingly actions of which perhaps the world has hitherto never given an example, the feasibility even if which might be very much doubted by one who founds everything on experience, are nevertheless inflexibly commanded by reason; that, for example, even though there might never yet have been a sincere friend, yet not a whit the less is pure sincerity in friendship required of every man..Immanuel Kant
About This Quote
In this quote, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is describing the role of reason. He is saying that reason does not have its own experiences or even observations to base its beliefs on. It must listen to the experiences of others and eventually realize that it is right and that what it has been told and what it has experienced are one and the same.
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