Rousseau's dilemma
‘Rousseau’s Dilemma’ in Avi Lifschitz, ed, Engaging with Rousseau: Reception and Interpretation
from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp 168-88
34 Pages Posted:
Date Written: January 01, 2016
Abstract
The chapter is divided into five sections. In the first two, I look at Rousseau’s ambiguous connection with the older, Italian-Atlantic republicanism: his endorsement of the received view of freedom on the one side, and his rejection of the mixed constitution in favour of an absolute sovereign on the other. In the two following sections I look at the pair of challenges to freedom that his approach raises and, as he thinks, resolves: the first arises from the fact that, no matter how benign, every sovereign subjects citizens to an independent will; the second arises from the fact that the sovereign may not actually be
very benign from the perspective of many citizens. Finally, the fifth section identifies the dilemma that his responses to those two challenges create for his approach.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp 168-88, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=