The Autobiography of Philosophy: Rousseau's The Reveries of the Solitary Walker

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This text interprets Heidegger's "Being and Time", Nietzsche's "On the Genealogy of Morals", Aristotle's "Metaphysics" and Plato's "Lysis" as examples of the implicitly autobiographical character of philosophy. Davis goes on to provide a reading of Rousseau's "Reveries of the Solitary Walker". Although Rousseau's explicitly autobiographical writings are more often read for the tantalizing details of his rather eccentric life than for their philosophical import, this work is an artful use of his exile and isolation as a paradigm for the human soul in its relation to the world.

Reviews

<...considers the character and role of philosophy, or of philosophizing, <...comprises a series of chapters on Rousseau's Reveries, devoting one to each of the 'Walks' in that work in turn, assessing and extending their themes and ideas and bringing forward the interpretation of their underlying significance.... -- Nicholas Dent, University of Birmingham
This book is both far reaching and tightly focused. * Review of Metaphysics *
Davis does an excellent job of teasing out several interrelated tensions in the Reveries . . . careful and illuminating. . . . Displays an excellent philosophical sensitivity to particular texts. -- Rebecca Kukla, Carleton University * Philosophy in Review *
<...considers the character and role of philosophy, or of philosophizing, <...comprises a series of chapters on Rousseau's Reveries, devoting one to each of the 'Walks' in that work in turn, assessing and extending their themes and ideas and bringing forward the interpretation of their underlying significance. -- Nicholas Dent, University of Birmingham

Author Bio

Michael Davis is professor of philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College. His most recent works include The Politics of Philosophy: A Commentary on Aristotles Politics (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996).