Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment: A Republican Critique of the PhilosophesArguing that the question of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's relationship to the Enlightenment has been eclipsed and seriously distorted by his association with the French Revolution, Graeme Garrard presents the first book-length case that shows Rousseau as the pivotal figure in the emergence of Counter-Enlightenment thought. Viewed in the context in which he actually lived and wrote—from the middle of the eighteenth century to his death in 1778—it is apparent that Rousseau categorically rejected the Enlightenment "republic of letters" in favor of his own "republic of virtue." The philosophes, placing faith in reason and natural human sociability and subjecting religion to systematic criticism and doubt, naively minimized the deep tensions and complexities of collective life and the power disintegrative forces posed to social order. Rousseau believed that the ever precarious social order could only be achieved artificially, by manufacturing "sentiments of sociability," reshaping individuals to identify with common interests instead of their own selfish interests. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 The Enlightenment Republic of Letters | 11 |
The Many Faces of JeanJacques Rousseau | 29 |
Rousseaus Critique of Enlightenment Social Thought | 41 |
4 Rousseaus CounterEnlightenment Republic of Virtue | 55 |
5 On the Utility of Religion | 69 |
6 Dare to Be Ignorant | 83 |
7 The Worst of All Possible Worlds | 103 |
Conclusion | 117 |
Notes | 121 |
| 155 | |
| 179 | |
Other editions - View all
Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment: A Republican Critique of the Philosophes Graeme Garrard Limited preview - 2003 |
Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment: A Republican Critique of the Philosophes Graeme Garrard Limited preview - 2003 |
Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment: A Republican Critique of the Philosophes Graeme Garrard No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
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