HIST S34 - Rousseau and Jean-Jacques

Institution:

Bates College

Subject:

Description:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) led a bohemian life without steady employment, settled family, or significant achievement before his late thirties. Then he suddenly became a literary celebrity by attacking more or less everything that sophisticated Frenchmen most admired: arts and letters, private property, the theater, the aristocracy, institutional schooling, the Catholic Church, the monarchy. Of course, such a life and such writings exposed him to censure and ridicule. He responded with defiant if posthumous Confessions in which he told his sad story and proclaimed his essential goodness. This course begins with Jean-Jacques's life story and tests the historical hypothesis that Rousseau's various attacks were so many defenses of the "dear self." But they make him the first modern democrat. Prerequisite(s): French 202 or higher, or one of the following: Politics 191, History 223, 224 or 390c. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. (European.) J. R. Cole.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.bates.edu/

Phone Number:

(207) 786-6000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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