Other Works

• Essay on the Origin of Languages

  - Recommended Translation: ‘Essay on the Origin of Languages,’ in Rousseau: The Discourses and other early political writings, ed. and trans. by Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 247-299.
  Rousseau’s Essay on the Origin of Languages (Essai sur l’origine des langues) was first published posthumously in 1781. Rousseau wrote that he had originally intended to include this work in the his Second Discourse but that he finally decided to omit… More

Commentary

• The Supposed Primitivism of Rousseau’s “Discourse on Inequality”

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  Arthur O. Lovejoy, "The Supposed Primitivism of Rousseau's 'Discourse on Inequality'" Modern Philology , Vol. 21, No. 2 (Nov., 1923), pp. 165-186.
  Excerpt: The notion  that Rousseau’s Discourse  on Inequality  was essentially  a glorification  of the state of nature and that its influence  tended  wholly or chiefly  to promote “primitivism” is one of the most  persistent  of… More

• Natural Right and History

  - Leo Strauss, “Rousseau”, in Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953), pp. 252-293.
  Excerpt: The first crisis of modernity occurred in the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  Rousseau was not the first to feel that the modern venture was a radical error and to seek the remedy in a return to classical thought.  It suffices to mention the… More

• Rousseau the Pessimistic Evolutionist

  - Bertrand de Jouvenel, “Rousseau the Pessimistic Evolutionist,” Yale French Studies, No. 28, (1961), pp.83-96.
  Scanned excerpt: Rousseau had a profound impact upon the way of life of the late XVIIIth century: thanks to him many parents became aware of and  attentive to their  children; he fostered enjoyment of natural beauties and contributed to a change in the… More

• ‘The First Times’ in Rousseau’s Essay on the Origin of Languages

  - Victor Gourevitch, “‘The First Times’ in Rousseau’s Essay on the Origin of Languages,” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 11, no. 2 (1986)
  Excerpt: Rousseau had begun the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality with the conjecture or abstraction of isolated, self-sufficient beings—one hesitates to call them men—and gone on to show how difficult, indeed how impossible it is to conceive why or… More

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Transparency and Obstruction

  - Jean Starobinski, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Transparency and Obstruction, trans. by Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).
  From the publisher: Jean Starobinski, one of Europe’s foremost literary critics, examines the life that led Rousseau, who so passionately sought open, transparent communication with others, to accept and even foster obstacles that permitted him to… More

• Rousseau’s Pure State of Nature

  - Victor Gourevitch, “Rousseau’s Pure State of Nature,” Interpretation 16, no.1 (1988).
  Excerpt: Heinrich Meier’s important new edition of the Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men invites us to rethink Rousseau’s account of the state of nature, and more particularly of what he calls the “pure”… More

• The Natural Goodness of Man: On the System of Rousseau’s Thought

  - Arthur Melzer, The Natural Goodness of Man: On the System of Rousseau’s Thought (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990).
  From the publisher: An artistic analogy–that of an old painting’s restoration–best describes Melzer’s excellent analysis and study of one of Rousseau’s key ideas: his belief in the natural goodness of Man. By systematically… More

• The Theodicy of the Second Discourse: The ‘Pure State of Nature’ and Rousseau’s Political Thought

  - John T. Scott, “The Theodicy of the Second Discourse: The ‘Pure State of Nature’ and Rousseau's Political Thought,” American Political Science Review Vol. 86. No. 3, Sept. 1992.
  Excerpt: Since Rousseau, and perhaps because of him, political theory has often been characterized by a disjunction between considerations of human nature and questions of justice and law. Yet, reexamining the Second Discourse as a theodicy forces us to… More

• Rousseau

  - Robert Wokler, Rousseau (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
  From the publisher: In this compact, thought-provoking study of Rousseau’s life and works Robert Wokler shows how his philosophy of history, his theories of music and politics, his fiction, educational and religious writings, and even his botany, were… More

• Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life

  - Laurence D. Cooper, Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999).
  From the publisher: The rise of modern science created a crisis for Western moral and political philosophy, which had theretofore relied either on Christian theology or Aristotelian natural teleology as guarantors of an objective standard for ‘the good… More

• Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question

  - Richard L. Velkley, Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003).
  From the publisher: In Being after Rousseau, Richard L. Velkley presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the founder of a modern European tradition of reflection on the relation of philosophy to culture—a reflection that calls both into question. Tracing this… More

• Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  - Jonathan Marks, Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
  From the publisher: In Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jonathan Marks offers a new interpretation of the philosopher’s thought and its place in the contemporary debate between liberals and communitarians. Against… More

• A Reinterpretation of Rousseau: A Religious System

  - Jeremiah Alberg, A Reinterpretation of Rousseau: A Religious System (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
  From the publisher: In this radical reinterpretation of Rousseau, Jeremiah Alberg reveals the neglected theological dimension of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy. Alberg shows how only Christianity can bring the coherence of Rousseau’s system to… More

• The Philosopher’s Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding

  - John Scott and Robert Zaretsky, The Philosopher’s Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009).
  From the publisher: The rise and spectacular fall of the friendship between the two great philosophers of the eighteenth century, barely six months after they first met, reverberated on both sides of the Channel. As the relationship between Jean-Jacques… More

• Rousseau’s Theodicy of Self-Love: Evil, Rationality, and the Drive for Recognition

  - Frederick Neuhouser, Rousseau's Theodicy of Self-Love: Evil, Rationality, and the Drive for Recognition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
  From the publisher: This book is the first comprehensive study of Rousseau’s rich and complex theory of the type of self-love (amour propre ) that, for him, marks the central difference between humans and the beasts. Amour propre is the passion that… More