Being After Rousseau

Being After Rousseau PDF Author: Richard L. Velkley
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226852560
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
In Being after Rousseau, Richard L. Velkley presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the founder of a modern European tradition of reflection on the relation of philosophy to culture—a reflection that calls both into question. Tracing this tradition from Rousseau to Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schelling, and Martin Heidegger, Velkley shows late modern philosophy as a series of ultimately unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dichotomies between nature and society, culture and civilization, and philosophy and society that Rousseau brought to the fore. The Rousseauian tradition begins, for Velkley, with Rousseau's criticism of modern political philosophy. Although the German Idealists such as Schelling accepted much of Rousseau's critique, they believed, unlike Rousseau, that human wholeness could be attained at the level of society and history. Heidegger and Nietzsche questioned this claim, but followed both Rousseau and the Idealists in their vision of the philosopher-poet striving to recover an original wholeness that the history of reason has distorted.

Being After Rousseau

Being After Rousseau PDF Author: Richard L. Velkley
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226852560
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book

Book Description
In Being after Rousseau, Richard L. Velkley presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the founder of a modern European tradition of reflection on the relation of philosophy to culture—a reflection that calls both into question. Tracing this tradition from Rousseau to Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schelling, and Martin Heidegger, Velkley shows late modern philosophy as a series of ultimately unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dichotomies between nature and society, culture and civilization, and philosophy and society that Rousseau brought to the fore. The Rousseauian tradition begins, for Velkley, with Rousseau's criticism of modern political philosophy. Although the German Idealists such as Schelling accepted much of Rousseau's critique, they believed, unlike Rousseau, that human wholeness could be attained at the level of society and history. Heidegger and Nietzsche questioned this claim, but followed both Rousseau and the Idealists in their vision of the philosopher-poet striving to recover an original wholeness that the history of reason has distorted.

Man or Citizen

Man or Citizen PDF Author: Karen Pagani
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271070455
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The French studies scholar Patrick Coleman made the important observation that over the course of the eighteenth century, the social meanings of anger became increasingly democratized. The work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is an outstanding example of this change. In Man or Citizen, Karen Pagani expands, in original and fascinating ways, the study of anger in Rousseau’s autobiographical, literary, and philosophical works. Pagani is especially interested in how and to what degree anger—and various reconciliatory responses to anger, such as forgiveness—functions as a defining aspect of one’s identity, both as a private individual and as a public citizen. Rousseau himself was, as Pagani puts it, “unabashed” in his own anger and indignation—toward society on one hand (corrupter of our naturally good and authentic selves) and, on the other, toward certain individuals who had somehow wronged him (his famous philosophical disputes with Voltaire and Diderot, for example). In Rousseau’s work, Pagani finds that the extent to which an individual processes, expresses, and eventually resolves or satisfies anger is very much of moral and political concern. She argues that for Rousseau, anger is not only inevitable but also indispensable, and that the incapacity to experience it renders one amoral, while the ability to experience it is a key element of good citizenship.

Rousseau's Platonic Enlightenment

Rousseau's Platonic Enlightenment PDF Author: David Lay Williams
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271045511
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
"In this sterling, deeply researched study, Williams explores how thinkers ranging from Hobbes to d'Holbach highlight various sets of ideas that Rousseau combated in developing his philosophical teaching. The account of Rousseau's predecessors who might be called Platonists is especially interesting, as is the account of those who qualify as materialists. Moreover, Williams provides a good overview of Rousseau's teaching, demonstrates a commendable grasp of the relevant secondary literature, and argues ably for the superiority of his own interpretations ... Clearly written and superbly organized, this book contributes much to Rousseau studies. An indispensable book for Rousseau scholars, this volume also will appeal to general readers and students at all levels."--C.E. Butterworth, CHOICE.

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau PDF Author: Michelle Markel
Publisher: Eerdmans Young Readers
ISBN: 0802853641
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
A child's biography of French artist Henri Rousseau, who spent his life as a toll collector, but created unheralded masterpieces in his spare time.

Abandoned to Ourselves

Abandoned to Ourselves PDF Author: Peter Alexander Meyers
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300172052
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
Weaves together historical acuity with theoretical insight to trace the emergence and moral significance of dependence itself within Jean-Jacques Rousseau's encounters with a variety of discourses of order, including theology, natural philosophy and music.

Rousseau on Education, Freedom, and Judgment

Rousseau on Education, Freedom, and Judgment PDF Author: Denise Schaeffer
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271064463
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
In Rousseau on Education, Freedom, and Judgment, Denise Schaeffer challenges the common view of Rousseau as primarily concerned with conditioning citizens’ passions in order to promote republican virtue and unreflective patriotism. Schaeffer argues that, to the contrary, Rousseau’s central concern is the problem of judgment and how to foster it on both the individual and political level in order to create the conditions for genuine self-rule. Offering a detailed commentary on Rousseau’s major work on education, Emile, and a wide-ranging analysis of the relationship between Emile and several of Rousseau’s other works, Schaeffer explores Rousseau’s understanding of what good judgment is, how it is learned, and why it is central to the achievement and preservation of human freedom. The model of Rousseauian citizenship that emerges from Schaeffer’s analysis is more dynamic and self-critical than is often recognized. This book demonstrates the importance of Rousseau’s contribution to our understanding of the faculty of judgment, and, more broadly, invites a critical reevaluation of Rousseau’s understanding of education, citizenship, and both individual and collective freedom.

Rousseau and the Problem of Human Relations

Rousseau and the Problem of Human Relations PDF Author: John M. Warner
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271077239
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
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 and German Idealism

Rousseau and German Idealism PDF Author: David James
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107037859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
A systematic account of Rousseau's significance in relation to Kant's, Fichte's and Hegel's views on freedom, dependence and necessity.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Human nature and history

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Human nature and history PDF Author: John T. Scott
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780415350853
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
Bringing together critical assessments of the broad range of Rousseau's thought, with a particular emphasis on his political theory, this systematic collection is an essential resource for both student and scholar.

The Hatred of Literature

The Hatred of Literature PDF Author: William Marx
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674983068
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
For 2,500 years literature has been condemned in the name of authority, truth, morality and society. But in making explicit what a society expects from literature, anti-literary discourse paradoxically asserts the validity of what it wishes to deny. The threat to literature’s continued existence, William Marx writes, is not hatred but indifference.