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

• [Book] Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Moralist

  - C.W. Hendel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Moralist (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril, 1934).
  Excerpt: Late in the manhood of Rousseau the moralist was born. Ordinary men who mature under parental care and acquire their moral principles through the slow and unconscious processes of habit scarcely know such discovery of themselves as moral beings. But… 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 Political Philosophy of Rousseau

  - Roger Masters, The Political Philosophy of Rousseau. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968).
  From the publisher: Masters writes in his introduction about the unity of Rousseau’s works: Man is naturally good but it is society that depraves. That is one way to characterize Rousseau’s thought. Man is motivated by two forces. One is… More

• The Sexual Politics of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  - Joel Schwartz, The Sexual Politics of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980).
  From the publisher: Joel Schwartz presents the first systematic treatment of Rousseau’s understanding of the political importance of women, sexuality, and the family. Using both Rousseau’s lesser-known literary works and such major writings as… 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

• The Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men: On the Intention of Rousseau’s Most Philosophical Work

  - Heinrich Meier, “The Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men: On the Intention of Rousseau's Most Philosophical Work,” trans. by J. Harvey Lomax, Interpretation, 16 (1988-89): 211-228.
  Excerpt: Rousseau in the Confessions called the Discours sur l’inegalite that piece  among all his writings in which his principles “are made manifest with the  greatest boldness, not to  say  audacity.”  That does not mean, to be sure,… 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 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

• A Rousseau Dictionary

  - N.J.H. Dent, A Rousseau Dictionary (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992).
  From the publisher: The social, educational and political writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau have become enormously influential in the 200 years since his death. But the breadth as well as the depth of Rousseau’s achievement – he was amongst other… More

• Making Citizens: Rousseau’s Political Theory of Culture

  - Zev M. Trachtenberg, Making Citizens: Rousseau’s Political Theory of Culture (London: Routledge: 1993).
  From the publisher: By analysing Rousseau’s conception of the general will, Zev Trachtenberg characterises the attitude of civic virtue Rousseau believes individuals must have to cooperate successfully in society. Rousseau holds that culture affects… More

• Rousseau on Providence

  - Victor Gourevitch, “Rousseau on Providence,” The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 53, No. 3, March 2000.
  Excerpt: Kant held that Rousseau and Newton had revealed the ways of  Providence: “After Newton and Rousseau, God is justified, and Pope’s  thesis is henceforth true.”  Rousseau discussed Providence and Pope’s thesis that… 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

• An Essay on Rousseau’s Politics

  - Bertrand de Jouvenal, "An Essay on Rousseau’s Politics" in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers (Volume I), edited by John T. Scott (London: Routledge, 2006). pp. 79-140.
  Excerpt: Here we have the author who was the most praised, the most cursed, and the one who has exercised the greatest influence on the development of political beliefs and institutions.  Yet he is not a political writer.  Take a look at his oeuvre: those… 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

• 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

• Build on Sand: Moral Law in Rousseau’s Second Discourse

  - Eve Grace, “Build on Sand: Moral Law in Rousseau’s Second Discourse” in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Eve Grace and Christopher Kelly (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
  Excerpt: Rousseau is no moralist. It is, to be sure, in the name of virtue that Rousseau first indicted the dangerous dreams of a Hobbes and a Spinoza (FD, 20). There is no doubt that he condemns civilization outright as an inexorable march toward corruption… More