Rousseau's Post-Liberal Self
Emileand the Formation of Republican Citizenship
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3969508 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael J Thompson (0000-0001-6428-9817, Department of Political Science, William Paterson University of New Jersey, 300 Pompton Road, Wayne, New Jersey 07470, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 39-53 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The European Legacy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1084-8770 • E-ISSN: 1470-1316 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10848770.2020.1823623 |
| OpenAlex | W3088584631 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
This article discusses Rousseau’s theory of the genesis and development of a “post-liberal self” and its political implications. In his Emile, or Education, Rousseau explores the distinctive features of the post-liberal self through Emile’s growing capacity to think in terms of his social interdependence with others and yet to maintain his critical autonomy. For Rousseau it is only such individuals with a highly developed moral and civic consciousness who are capable of articulating the general will and of properly participating in a modern republic. I argue that the general will for Rousseau is therefore not a property of the community but of the post-liberal self, for whom the common good is a larger dimension of the individual good. I then discuss the political implications of this theory by relating it to The Social Contract where Rousseau urges us to examine the legitimacy of existing social norms, laws and practices. Rousseau, I conclude, is one of the great radical thinkers of self-transformation as the prerequisite for overcoming the pathologies and limitations of liberal society
Autonomy · Citizenship · Consciousness · Epistemology · General Will · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Social contract · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
The politics of authenticity
Liberty before Liberalism
On the People's Terms
Republicanism and the Future of Democracy
Republicanism
The Expansion of Autonomy
Rousseau’s Critique of Locke’s Education for Liberty
The General will Before Rousseau
III. Rousseau's Novel Education in the Emile
Beyond Liberalism
Autonomy and Common Good
Rousseau on the People as Legislative Gatekeepers, Not Framers
| Highly cited | No |
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