Rousseau: A Free Community of Equals

by Joshua Cohen

In famously beautiful and laconic prose, Jean-Jacques Rousseau presents us with a forceful picture of a democratic society, in which we live together as free and equal, and our politics focuses on the common good. In Rousseau: A Free Community of Equals Joshua Cohen explains how the values of freedom, equality, and community all work together as parts of the democratic ideal expressed in Rousseau's conception of the "society of the general will". The book also explains Rousseau's anti-Augustinian and anti-Hobbesian idea that we are naturally good, shows why Rousseau thinks it is reasonable for us to endorse that idea, and discusses how our natural goodness might make a free community of equals possible for us. And Cohen examines in detail Rousseau's picture of the institutions of a democratic society: why he emphasized the importance of political participation, how he argued against extreme inequalities, and what led him to embrace a civil religion as necessary for the society of
the general will. This book provides an analytical and critical appraisal of Rousseau's political thought that, while frank about its limits, also explains its enduring power.

Genres: Philosophy

197 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2010

About the author

Joshua Cohen is a political theorist, trained in philosophy, with a special interest in issues that lie at the intersection of democratic norms and institutions. He has written extensively on issues of democratic theory, particularly deliberative democracy and its implications for personal liberty, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and political equality. He has also written on issues of global justice, including the foundations of human rights, distributive fairness, supranational democratic governance, and labor standards in supply chains. Cohen serves as co-editor of Boston Review, a bimonthly magazine of political, cultural, and literary ideas. He has published Philosophy, Politics, Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2009); Rousseau: A Free Community of Equals (Oxford University Press, 2010); The Arc of the Moral Universe and Other Essays (Harvard University Press, 2011); and edited (with Alex Byrne, Gideon Rosen, and Seana Shiffrin) The Norton Introduction to Philosophy (forthcoming 2015). Cohen is a member of the faculty of Apple University.

Reviews

[Alexander]

This doesn't aspire to a comprehensive treatment of Rousseau's thought or even his political theory, but is very helpful nonetheless, as Cohen provides a very clear account of Rousseau's conception of political community and its philosophical underpinnings. Recommended.

[Thomas R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear exposition of a vision of Rousseau's political philosophy as providing an account of how we can live together in a free community of equals. Cohen doesn't offer a comprehensive account of Rousseau's political philosophy, but rather offers an unpacking of Rousseau's answer to the following "fundamental problem":

We need "to find a form of association that will defend and protect the person and goods of each associate with the full common force, and by means of which each, uniting with all, nevertheless obey only himself and remain as free as before (SC. 1.6.4)

It felt to me that the main argument and exposition could have taken a lot fewer words. Some of the discussion was quite meandering, which is fair enough if one is a scholar studying that particular element of Rousseau's thought, but it would have been nice if more of these digressions were on some of the juicy, controversial, elements of Rousseau's political philosophy. But overall, I thought it was clearly written, and some parts (especially Ch. 1, 2 and 4) were particularly enjoyable.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a hagiography. Rousseau was about the submission of women, children and animals. He was also writing about the savages, but gosh forbid to have one of the darkies around him. So the free community of equals was his goal. But a community of rich white male landlords. And they needed to have some social contract in order to keep the inferiors out. And he needed a social contract to have less rich white males like him still with the ruling class.

[Jack Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

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