Description
Book SynopsisExamines the role of anger and forgiveness in the autobiographical, literary, and philosophical works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Argues that for Rousseau, anger is an inevitable outcome of social intercourse, and that forgiveness is central to his understanding of subjectivity and hence of moral and political action.
Trade Review“This intelligent, original, and thought-provoking study offers a fresh understanding of Rousseau’s moral and political philosophy from the specific angle of forgiveness.”
—Laurence Mall,University of Illinois
“A lucid, illuminating contribution to research on the history of modern attitudes towards sentiment and emotion.”
—Jason Neidleman French Studies
“While Rousseau’s conception of natural pity has been the focus of numerous studies attending to issues in his social and political thought, neither anger nor forgiveness has been explored in any great depth. Man or Citizen engages with all the important primary and secondary sources and moves nicely between fiction, autobiography, and social and political texts.”
—Julia Simon,author of Rousseau Among the Moderns
“A well-researched and clearly written study, of interest to scholars of Rousseau, political theory, philosophy, and literature.”
—XVIII New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction
Part I. The Political Significance of Forgiveness and Anger in Rousseau’s Thought: The Dialogues as a Case Study
Chapter 1. The Magnanimous Pardon: A Force to be Reckoned With
Chapter 2. The Philosophes’ Plot and the Frenchman’s Anger
Chapter 3. The Productive Capacities of the Citizen’s Anger
Chapter 4. The Frenchman’s Conundrum
Part II. Private, Interpersonal Forgiveness: The Rousseauvean Intervention
Chapter 5. The Confessions: Saint-Lambert and Rousseau’s Miraculous Reconciliation
Chapter 6. Publicized Anger and the Unforgivable: Reconsidering the Story of the Foundling Hospital
Chapter 7. Forgiveness Among Men and Citizens in Julie
Chapter 8. Émile and Sophie: To forgive or not forgive? That is the Question
Conclusion. Forgiveness Today and Rousseau’s Legacy
Bibliography
