Rousseau and German idealism : freedom, dependence and necessity / David James.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

The claim that Rousseau's writings influenced the development of Kant's critical philosophy, and German idealism, is not a new one. As correct as the claim may be, it does not amount to a systematic account of Rousseau's place within this philosophical tradition. It also suggests a progression whereby Rousseau's achievements are eventually eclipsed by those of Kant, Fichte and Hegel, especially with respect to the idea of freedom. In this book David James shows that Rousseau presents certain challenges that Kant and the idealists Fichte and Hegel could not fully meet, by making dependence and necessity, as well as freedom, his central concerns, and thereby raises the question of whether freedom in all its forms is genuinely possible in a condition of human interdependence marked by material inequality. His study will be valuable for all those studying Kant, German idealism and the history of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ideas.

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Works of Rousseau; Works of Kant; Works of Fichte; Works of Hegel; Introduction; Freedom and dependence; Necessity; Perfectibility; Chapter One Rousseau on freedom, dependence and necessity; Freedom and dependence; The transition from dependence on things to dependence on men in the Second Discourse; The spectre of primitive man in Reveries of the Solitary Walker; Will and necessity; Chapter Two Evil and perfectibility in Kant's liberalism; Kant's liberal theodicy; Kant on radical evil: making exceptions for oneself

A civil society of intelligent devilsCulture and the ethical community; Normativity and history; Chapter Three Imposing order; The political architect; Rousseau on property; Equality and freedom in Fichte's theory of right; Fichte on property; Imposing order; Interpreting the common will; Political authority in Fichte's later Rechtslehre; Chapter Four Will and necessity in Hegel's Philosophy of Right; Hegel's re-conceptualization of the general will; Subjective freedom; The 'state of necessity'; Economic necessity; The limits of subjective freedom; The existence of the general will

Chapter Five Activism and idlenessFichte's critique of Rousseau; Selfhood and moral freedom; Rousseau on idleness; Fichte on leisure; Ethical activism and the modern division of labour; Bibliography; Index

English.

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