Dreaming of Justice, Waking to Wisdom - Rousseau''s Philosophic Life

"Dreaming of Justice, Waking to Wisdom reveals what could be thought of as the capstone of Rousseau's thought, even if that capstone has been nearly invisible to readers. Despite criticizing philosophy for its corrosive effects on both natural goodness and civic virtue, Rousseau, argues Laurence D. Cooper, held the philosophic life as an ideal. Cooper expertly unpacks Rousseau's vivid depiction of the philosophic life and the case for that life as the most natural, the freest, or, in short, the best or most choice-worthy of lives. Cooper focuses especially on a single feature, arguably the defining feature of the philosophic life: the overcoming of the ordinary moral consciousness in favor of the cognitivist view of morality. Cooper shows that Rousseau, with his particular understanding and embrace of the philosophic life, proves to be a kind of latter-day Socratic. Thorough and thought-provoking, Dreaming of Justice, Waking to Wisdom provides vital insight into Rousseau"--

About the author

Laurence D. Cooper is professor of political science at Carleton College. He is the author of Eros in Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche: The Politics of Infinity and Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life.

Product details

• Authors: Laurence D. Cooper, Cooper Laurence D.
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.03.2023
• EAN: 9780226825014
• ISBN: 978-0-226-82501-4
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day; PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Individual Philosophers, Social & political philosophy, social and political philosophy, Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900, Western philosophy: Enlightenment