Modernity and Authenticity: A Study of the Social and Ethical Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1993 - Philosophy - 188 pages
This study on the contemporary relevance of Rousseau's ethical and social thought, the "ethic of authenticity," responds to the tensions of modern morality and rivals the answers generated by the more mainstream tradition of the "ethic of autonomy."
 

Contents

CONTEMPORARY MODERNITY AND ITS DISCONTENTS
7
ROUSSEAUS CRITIQUE OF MODERNITY
29
a Man in the State of Nature
30
b Rousseaus Argument against Hobbes
33
c The State of Nature and Society
37
d The Transition to Society
39
e From the Patriarchal to the Agricultural Society
43
Rousseaus Critique of Modernity
47
b Rousseaus Psychology of the Self
79
c Excursus on Authenticity
86
BEYOND THE LIMITS OF AUTONOMY ROUSSEAUS ETHIC OF AUTHENTICITY
93
a The New Heloise
94
b The Limits of Autonomy
102
ETHICS AND THE TENSIONS OF MODERNITY A NEOWEBERIAN INTERPRETATION
111
a Rousseau and the Postmodern Syndrome
112
b Webers Conception of Ethical Evolution as Rationalization
117

THE LEGITIMATE POLITICAL ORDER
51
a Competition and the Emancipated Society
52
b Neither Totalitarian nor Liberal
55
c On Rousseaus Concept of Freedom
60
d Civic Virtue and Private Virtue
65
ROUSSEAUS PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SELF
69
a Education versus Socialization
70
c The Tensions of Modern Morality
122
AUTHENTICITY AND THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS
135
NOTES
153
BIBLIOGRAPHY
169
INDEX
185
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About the author (1993)

Alessandro Ferrara is Professor of Sociology at the University of Rome.

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