Available Formats
Rousseau and Revolution
By (Author) Holger Ross Lauritsen
Edited by Professor Mikkel Thorup
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic
28th March 2013
United Kingdom
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Political science and theory
Revolutionary groups and movements
321.094
Paperback
224
322g
The political philosophy of the 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau has long been associated with the dramatic events of the French Revolution. In this book, an international team of scholars has been brought together to examine the connection between Rousseau's thought and the revolutionary traditions of modern Europe. The book explores Rousseau's own conceptions of violence and revolution in contrast to those of other thinkers such as Hegel and Fanon and in connection with his ideas on democracy. Historical analyses also consider Rousseau's thinking in light of the French Revolution in particular and the European revolutions that have followed it. Across the eleven chapters the book also touches on such issues as citizenship, activism, terrorism and the State. In doing so, the book reveals Rousseau to be an important source of insight into contemporary political problems.
In an age where revolutions are sweeping the Middle East, it seems as good a time as any to reconsider the principles on which revolutions are grounded. This reason alone is sufficient to reconsider Jean-Jacques Rousseau's relationship to the French Revolution and political change. But these essays also invite students of Rousseau to consider his works more generally. While this volume does not answer once and for all the timeless questions raised by his political thought, one at least takes a few steps toward a more sophisticated political philosophy through engaging its essays. -- Notre Dame Philosophical Review, David Lay Williams, DePaul University
Mikkel Thorup is Associate Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and the History of Ideas, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His previous publications include An Intellectual History of Terror: War, Violence and the State (Routledge, 2010). Holger Ross Lauritsen is a PhD Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and the History of Ideas, University of Aarhus, Denmark.