Rousseau on Education, Freedom, and Judgment - Softcover

Schaeffer, Denise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 027106210X ISBN 13: 9780271062105

Publisher: Penn State University Press, 2016

Synopsis

In Rousseau on Education, Freedom, and Judgment, Denise Schaeffer challenges the common view of Rousseau as primarily concerned with conditioning citizens' passions in order to promote republican virtue and unreflective patriotism. Schaeffer argues that, to the contrary, Rousseau's central concern is the problem of judgment and how to foster it on both the individual and political level in order to create the conditions for genuine self-rule. Offering a detailed commentary on Rousseau's major work on education, Emile, and a wide-ranging analysis of the relationship between Emile and several of Rousseau's other works, Schaeffer explores Rousseau's understanding of what good judgment is, how it is learned, and why it is central to the achievement and preservation of human freedom. The model of Rousseauian citizenship that emerges from Schaeffer's analysis is more dynamic and self-critical than is often recognized. This book invites a critical reevaluation of Rousseau's understanding of education, citizenship, and both individual and collective freedom.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

In Rousseau on Education, Freedom, and Judgment, Denise Schaeffer challenges the common view of Rousseau as primarily concerned with conditioning citizens' passions in order to promote republican virtue and unreflective patriotic attachment to the fatherland. Schaeffer argues that, to the contrary, Rousseau's central concern is the problem of judgment and how to foster it on both the individual and political level in order to create the conditions for genuine self-rule. Offering a detailed commentary on Rousseau's major work on education, Emile, and a wide-ranging analysis of the relationship between Emile and several of Rousseau's other works, Schaeffer explores Rousseau's understanding of what good judgment is, how it is learned, and why it is central to the achievement and preservation of human freedom. The model of Rousseauian citizenship that emerges from Schaeffer's analysis is more dynamic and self-critical than is often acknowledged. This book demonstrates the importance of Rousseau's contribution to our understanding of the faculty of judgment, and, more broadly, invites a critical reevaluation of Rousseau's understanding of education, citizenship, and both individual and collective freedom.

About the Author:

Denise Schaeffer is Professor of Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 027106210X
• ISBN 13: 9780271062105
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240