Eve Grace

This chapter offers an exploration of Rousseau’s account of love as a limitless longing for what is not, a longing that is impossible to satisfy, for the internal contradictions between the various hopes inspired by romantic love necessarily destroy love the more ardently it seeks to attain its object. Moreover, while love, rather than reason, is the potent teacher of virtue and the genuine source of happiness, the enthusiasm by which it elevates human life is inherently unstable, for it must in the end be faced as an illusion. Rousseau’s inspiring and yet dark account of love in great measure gave rise to the melancholic sensibility later associated with Romanticism.

This collection of original essays examines the relationship between women and religion in the history of political thought broadly conceived. This theme is a remarkably revealing lens through which to view the Western philosophical and poetical traditions that have culminated in secular and egalitarian modern society. The essays also give highly analytical accounts of the manifold and intricate relationships between religion, family and public life in the history of political thought, and the various ways in which these relationships have manifested themselves in pagan, Jewish, Christian and post-Christian settings.

Written by prominent scholars of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy, this collection celebrates the 300th anniversary of Rousseau's birth and the 250th anniversary of the publication of Emile. The depth and systematic character of Rousseau's thought was recognized almost immediately by thinkers such as Kant and Hegel, yet debate continues over the degree to which Rousseau's legacy is the result of poetic, literary or rhetorical genius, rather than of philosophic rigor or profundity. The authors focus on Rousseau's genuine yet undervalued stature as a philosopher. This collection includes essays that develop some of the complex problems Rousseau treated so radically and profoundly, as well as essays on the vigorous debates he engaged in with thoughtful contemporaries and predecessors.

Jean- Jacques Rousseau is a major figure in Western Philosophy and is one of the most widely read and studied political philosophers of all time. His writings range from abstract works such as On the Social Contract to literary masterpieces such as The Reveries of the Solitary Walker as well as immensely popular novels and operas. The Rousseauian Mind provides a comprehensive survey of his work, not only placing it in its historical context but also exploring its contemporary significance. Comprising over forty chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook covers: The predecessors and contemporaries to Rousseau's work The major texts of the "system" Autobiographical texts including Confessions, Reveries of the Solitary Walker and Dialogues Rousseau's political science The successors to Rousseau's work Rousseau applied today. Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, Rousseau's work is central to the study of political philosophy, the Enlightenment, French studies, the history of philosophy and political theory.