Rousseau and Desire

by Mark Blackell (Editor), John Duncan (Editor), Simon Kow (Editor)

The nature and meaning of desire in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's work have thus far received little attention in Rousseau scholarship. Rousseau and Desire is the first examination of the eighteenth-century philosopher's conceptualization of desire in relation to his understanding of modernity. The essays in this interdisciplinary collection combine close textual analyses with historical and intellectual inquiry to present a complex, yet concise portrayal of desire in Rousseau's political thought. Broad in scope, Rousseau and Desire opens new fields of inquiry by exploring Rousseau's formulation of desire as it relates to a range of subjects, including feminist phenomenology, political theory, natural reproduction, and early modern economic thought. As a whole, this important volume of essays ultimately affirms that the place of desire in Rousseau's work is integral to our understanding of this seminal thinker and, by extension, the notion of the self in modernity.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Neil Mudde]

Dr. Mark Blackell is the son of my partner Robert B. Kell, I am currently in the process of reading the book. Those that have, give it high praise, this includes the editing done by John Duncan and Simon Kow.
I am still currently reading this book, and will complete the review once I finish reading this.
It is now July 25th, 2014, and I have finished reading the book, it is very interesting,although not a "pageturner', a lot of research has gone into the subject matter, and it does make for an informed factual reading.