The Political Philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Impossibility of Reason
Mads Qvortrup
Abstract
This book presents an overview of Jean–Jacques Rousseau's work from a political science perspective. Was Rousseau — the great theorist of the French Revolution—really a conservative? The text argues that the author of ‘The Social Contract’ was a constitutionalist much closer to Madison, Montesquieu, and Locke than to revolutionaries. Outlining his profound opposition to Godless materialism and revolutionary change, this book finds parallels between Rousseau and Burke, as well as showing that Rousseau developed the first modern theory of nationalism. It presents an integrated political analysis ... More
Keywords: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, political science, French Revolution, conservative, Social Contract, constitutionalist, Madison, Montesquieu, Locke, revolutionaries
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2003 | Print ISBN-13: 9780719065804 |
| Published to Manchester Scholarship Online: July 2012 | DOI:10.7228/manchester/9780719065804.001.0001 |
