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Course Description

Rousseau stands out from other enlightenment political thinkers both in his more radical approach to human nature (taking it to be evolving) and by his seemingly unmodern insistence that functional and legitimate political society must actively cultivate both character virtue and a commitment to the idea of the public good. In this he moves away from thinkers who argue for a more morally neutral political society upheld only by laws and/or institutions, and echoes key concepts from Plato and Aristotle. This course will explore his political writings, beginning with the Discourses: The Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, the Discourse on Inequality, and the Discourse on Political Economy. After a close reading of the discourses we will move to consider how he builds upon this in The Social Contract.  We will begin with the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.

Course Syllabus

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