Rousseau's counter-enlightenment: a republican critique of the philosophes

Garrard, Graeme Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0782-6361 2003. Rousseau's counter-enlightenment: a republican critique of the philosophes. Suny Series in Social and Political Thought, New York: State University of New York Press.

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Abstract

Arguing 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.

Item Type:	Book
Book Type:	Authored Book
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Subjects:	A General Works > AZ History of Scholarship The Humanities B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) D History General and Old World > DC France J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
ISBN:	9780791456033
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2022 09:33
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/3521

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