Rousseau on needs, language and pity
The limits of 'public reason
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5770664 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David James (0000-0001-5168-4690, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 372-393 |
| Publication date | 2011-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1474-8851 • E-ISSN: 1741-2730 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885111406390 |
| OpenAlex | W2137492529 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
The idea of 'public reason' has recently been associated with Rousseau's views on the formation of a general will. Advocates of this idea in the Kantian tradition tend to emphasize reflective acts of rational deliberation which, I suggest, are more suited to written than to spoken language. Rousseau's accounts of the role of spoken language as a means of expressing human needs and the role of pity in the development of a moral form of reasoning, which allows one properly to take into account the interests of others, show that he cannot be so easily interpreted as an advocate of the idea of public reason. This is because his views on the importance of spoken language in democratic politics and the essential part played by the sentiment of pity in the development of moral reasoning imply the legitimacy of modes of expression in the formation of a general will that are not, in any obvious sense, compatible with the demands of public reason
Deliberation · Expression (computer science · Pity · Public reason · Political Theory and Influence · Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |