Introducing Rousseau

By Dave Robinson and Oscar Zárate

Book Overview

Illustrated guide to the crucial French philosopher who denied bring a philosopher at all. 'I am like no one else in the whole world ...' Thus begins Jean-Jacques Rousseau's defiant Confessions - an autobiography of astounding psychological insight. Musician, poet, novelist and botanist, but above all, a philosopher who firmly denied being one, Rousseau was the first to ask: "What is the value of civilization?" His answer - that civilization corrupts natural goodness and increases social inequalities - shocked his Enlightenment contemporaries and still challenges us today. Did Rousseau inspire the French Revolution? Can Romanticism, psychoanalysis and Existentialism all be traced back to him? Introducing Rousseau presents a maverick thinker whose ideas revolutionized our understanding of childhood, education, government, language and much else. Dave Robinson's clear and concise account of Rousseau's ideas, engagingly dramatized by Oscar Zarate's illustrations, guides the reader through Rousseau's turbulent life of lost innocence, persecution and paranoia.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1848312121
• ISBN13: 9781848312128
• Release Date: June 2011
• Publisher: Icon Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.6" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Intriguing and Enigmatic

I doubt I can do Jean-Jacques Rousseau "credit" with this attempt of a "review." If complex, intriguing, and enigmatic personalities are your cup of tea -- coupled with a genuine appreciation of the 18th-century Enlightement Period -- then this book is for you.Reading of his youthful exposure of his backside to a group of young aristocratic girls in Turin made me laugh. A disappointment was reading of his prescribed religionist sentiment (Deisim) in "The Social Contract," wherein he -- to my shock -- promoted intolerance of atheism and that nonbelievers should be put to death (he later regretted this final chapter of "The Social Contract" and tried to suppress it). Another disappointment concerned his relationship to his children.This book is loaded with information on the man and his thoughts. It is an excellent and wonderful "introduction" to Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- and actually more than an introduction, as the book very adequately touches on the salient points and major (and some minor!) events of this man's life. It's a very solid biography. Of particular interest is contrasting Rousseau's ::artistic:: personality (sentiments and moods) alongside of his contemporary "Philosophes" such as Voltaire and Diderot. My impression is that Rousseau discovered, by himself, methods of what would today be termed ::meditation::, and he also seems to have come to know the essences of Yin and Yang, though of course he'd probably never heard of those concepts. His artistry and nature-appreciating soul was primarily what set him apart -- fascinatingly -- from his contemporaries.I'm now reading "The Confessions" online. I was sad to finish the book, and can't yet put it away; I'm skimming certain sections again. Rousseau certainly touched me, despite my marked disagreement with him in certain areas.