Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) is one of the best-known figures of the French Enlightenment and a central figure in eighteenth-century philosophy. His influential theories of the social contract, inequality, liberty and education make him one of the most famous political philosophers of all time. In this superb introduction, Nicholas Dent covers the whole of Rousseau's thought. He gives particular attention to Rousseau's theories of democracy and freedom found in his most celebrated work, The Social Contract , and explains what Rousseau meant (...) by the 'general will'. (shrink)
O'Hagan agrees with Dent that in Rousseau's idea of "amour-propre" we encounter a powerful, coherent model of human psychology, according to which individuals find their own identities by engaging in a network of relationships within a more or less reconstituted social order. He examines five ways in which people strive to attain that goal and five ways in which they characteristically fail. In the sixth section he discusses Rousseau's strategy of retreat from society, which is also a retreat from the (...) demands of "amour-propre". (shrink)
According to familiar accounts, Rousseau held that humans are actuated by two distinct kinds of self love: amour de soi, a benign concern for one's self-preservation and well-being; and amour-propre, a malign concern to stand above other people, delighting in their despite. I argue that although amour-propre can (and often does) assume this malign form, this is not intrinsic to its character. The first and best rank among men that amour-propre directs us to claim for ourselves is that of occupying (...) 'man's estate'. This does not require, indeed it precludes, subjection of others. Amour-propre does not need suppression or circumscription if we are to live good lives; it rather requires direction to its proper end, not a delusive one. (shrink)
This part of the philosophy of psychology I refer to as 'moral psychology'; and, therefore, this book is offered as a contribution to moral psychology. ...
