Rousseau and the Dilemmas of Modernity
Rousseau and the Dilemmas of Modernity

Author: Mark Hulliung

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 1351492578

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This volume seeks to capture Jean-Jacques Rousseau's astonishing contribution to our understanding of the dilemmas of modernity. For the contributors to this book Rousseau is present as well as past, because he was so modern and yet so ambivalent about modernity, a position with which we are quite familiar. Highlighted in this volume is the contention that Rousseau set the stage for many discussions of the good and bad of modernity.Previous efforts to deal with Rousseau and modernity have suffered from myopia. In the nineteenth century the Romantics claimed Rousseau as one of their own, pulling him out of his historical context, ignoring his full scale immersion in the debates of the French Enlightenment. In the twentieth century commentators have read into Rousseau the ahistorical and present-minded Cold War theme of "Rousseau the totalitarian."In this volume Rousseau is treated as a person of his age but also as someone who speaks to us today. The topics covered range from feminism, music, science, and political theory, to updating the classics, and to the search for and limitations to the quest for self-knowledge. Few if any figures can compete with Rousseau when it comes to forcing us to face up to the price we pay for "progress."

On the Origin of Inequality
On the Origin of Inequality

Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.

Published: 2005-11-01

Total Pages: 101

ISBN-13: 1596055480

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If we look at human society with a calm and disinterested eye, it seems, at first, to show us only the violence of the powerful and the oppression of the weak. The mind is shocked at the cruelty of the one, or is induced to lament the blindness of the other...-from the PrefaceAre such concepts of race, class, and wealth inherent to the human condition, or are they results of the development of "civilization"? One of the most important thinkers of the Enlightenment, which laid the groundwork for the modern mind-set, argues that it is only with the creation of agriculture and urban society that inequalities formed. Controversy swirls around the text-some of today's thinkers continue to consider it profound; others contend that it relies on an unsupportable "noble savage" foundation. In either case, this 1752 is one of the greatest works of 18th-century philosophy.Swiss philosopher JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778) was a dramatic influence on the French revolution, 19th-century communism, and much modern political thought. His works include Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750), Discourse on Political Economy (1755), and The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right (1762).

Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean Jacques Rousseau

Author: Tracy B. Strong

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9780742521438

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Rousseau is most often read either as a theorist of individual authenticity or as a communitarian. In this book, he is neither. Instead, Rousseau is understood as a theorist of the common person. In Strong's understanding, Rousseau's use of 'common' always refers both to that which is common and to that which is ordinary, vulgar, everyday. For Strong, Rousseau resonates with Kant, Hegel, and Marx, but he is more modern like Emerson, Nietzsche, Eittegenstein, and Heidegger. Rousseau's democratic individual is an ordinary self, paradoxically multiple and not singular. In the course of exploring this contention, Strong examines Rousseau's fear of authorship (though not of authority), his understanding of the human, his attempt to overcome the scandal that relativism posed for politics, and the political importance of sexuality.

Rousseau
Rousseau

Author: Nicholas Dent

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-09-25

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1134455666

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In this superb introduction, Nicholas Dent covers the whole of Rousseau's thought. Beginning with a helpful overview of Rousseau's life and works, he introduces and assesses Rousseau's central ideas and arguments. These include the corruption of modern civilization, the state of nature, his famous theories of amour de soi and amour propre, education, and his famous work Emile. He gives particular attention to Rousseau's theories of democracy and freedom found in his most celebrated work, The Social Contract, and explains what Rousseau meant by the 'general will'.

Modernity and Authenticity
Modernity and Authenticity

Author: Alessandro Ferrara

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1992-12-22

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1438402651

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This study on the contemporary relevance of Rousseau's ethical and social thought, the "ethic of authenticity," responds to the tensions of modern morality and rivals the answers generated by the more mainstream tradition of the "ethic of autonomy."

Rousseau
Rousseau

Author: Céline Spector

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-07-20

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1509516522

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the most controversial philosophers of the eighteenth century, and his groundbreaking work still provokes heated debate in contemporary political theory. In this book, Céline Spector, one of the world’s foremost experts on Rousseau’s thought, provides an accessible introduction to his moral, social and political theory. She explores the themes and central concepts of his thought, ranging from the state of nature, the social contract and the general will to natural and political freedom, religion and education. She combines a skilful exposition of Rousseau as a ‘man of paradoxes’ with a discussion of his often-overlooked ideas on knowledge, political economy and international relations. The book traces both the overall unity and the significant changes in Rousseau’s philosophy, accounting for its complexity and for the importance of its legacy. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and general readers interested in the Enlightenment and more broadly in the history of modern political thought and philosophy.

Rousseau and Critical Theory
Rousseau and Critical Theory

Author: Alessandro Ferrara

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-09-04

Total Pages: 63

ISBN-13: 900435638X

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In Rousseau and Critical Theory, Alessandro Ferrara argues that an implicit normative understanding of the authenticity of an identity brings unity to Rousseau's multifarious lifework and contains important teachings for contemporary Critical Theory, views of self-constitution and political philosophy.

Rousseau and the Problem of Human Relations
Rousseau and the Problem of Human Relations

Author: John M. Warner

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2016-03-23

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0271077239

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In this volume, John Warner grapples with one of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s chief preoccupations: the problem of self-interest implicit in all social relationships. Not only did Rousseau never solve this problem, Warner argues, but he also believed it was fundamentally unsolvable—that social relationships could never restore wholeness to a self-interested human being. This engaging study is founded on two basic but important questions: what do we want out of human relationships, and are we able to achieve what we are after? Warner traces his answers through the contours of Rousseau’s thought on three distinct types of relationships—sexual love, friendship, and civil or political association—as well as alternate interpretations of Rousseau, such as that of the neo-Kantian Rawlsian school. The result is an insightful exploration of the way Rousseau inspires readers to imbue social relations with purpose and meaning, only to show the impossibility of reaching wholeness through such relationships. While Rousseau may raise our hopes only to dash them, Rousseau and the Problem of Human Relations demonstrates that his ambitious failure offers unexpected insight into the human condition and into the limits of Rousseau’s critical act.

Rousseau, Law and the Sovereignty of the People
Rousseau, Law and the Sovereignty of the People

Author: Ethan Putterman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-04-22

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0521765382

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Examines Rousseau's contribution as a constitutionalist and builder of institutions, relating his major ideas to twenty-first century debates.

Rousseau
Rousseau

Author: N. J. H. Dent

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9780415283496

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Beginning with an overview of Rousseau's life & works, Dent assesses the central ideas & arguments of Rousseau's philosophy, including the corruption of modern civilization, the state of nature, his theories of amour de soi & amour propre, & his theories of education.