General & Miscellaneous Social Policies, 18th Century French Philosophy

Rousseau: The Sentiment of Existence

Name: Rousseau: The Sentiment of Existence
Author: David Gauthier
ISBN: 9780521007597

by David Gauthier

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Overview

Rousseau is often portrayed as an educational and social reformer whose aim was to increase individual freedom. In this volume, the distinguished philosopher David Gauthier examines Rousseau's evolving notion of freedom, particularly in his later works, where he focuses on a single quest: Can freedom and the independent self be regained? Rousseau's first answer is given in Emile, where he seeks to create a self-sufficient individual, neither materially nor psychologically enslaved to others. His second answer comes in the Social Contract, where he seeks to create a citizen who identifies totally with his community, so that he experiences his dependence on it only as a dependence on himself. Rousseau implicitly recognized the failure of these solutions. His third answer is one of the main themes of the Confessions and the Reveries, where he creates himself as the man made for a kind of love that merges the selves of the lovers into a single, psychologically sufficient unity that makes each "better than free." But is this response, like others proposed by Rousseau, a chimera?

Synopsis

David Gauthier examines Rousseau's evolving notion of freedom, focusing on his later works.

About the Author, David Gauthier

David Gauthier is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. The author of many articles and several books, most recently Moral Dealing, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.